William Logan (Deserter)

Few soldiers of the Black Watch accumulated a gallantry record quite like William Logan. Born at Helensburgh, near Glasgow, Scotland, on 19 January 1894, Logan served in the Royal Highlanders under regimental number 2702. By August 1914 he was serving as a Private with the 1st Battalion, Royal Highlanders, and entered France on 14 August 1914 with the opening deployment of the British Expeditionary Force. Later medal-catalogue research records that he enlisted in 1914, but his exact date of enlistment has not yet been established from an original service record, so it should not be assumed that he enlisted only after the outbreak of the war.

Logan remained with the 1st Battalion during the early part of the war before being invalided home, either sick or wounded, sometime after August 1915. He was subsequently posted to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Highlanders, serving in Mesopotamia. It was there that he earned the series of decorations that made his wartime record exceptional. Contemporary newspaper reporting also described him as having been wounded repeatedly during his service.

His first Distinguished Conduct Medal was awarded for his conduct at Sannaiyat on 22 April 1916 during the operations intended to relieve the besieged British and Indian garrison at Kut-al-Amara. After the officers of his company became casualties, Logan, then a Corporal, took charge of a party of men and controlled their fire. He also assisted a wounded officer to safety while exposed to heavy fire. The award appeared in the London Gazette on 20 October 1916. The published citation specifically recognized his gallantry and initiative.

His service during the Kut relief operations also brought the first of three Mentions in Despatches. Logan was named in the London Gazette on 19 October 1916 in connection with Lieutenant-General Sir Percy Lake's account of operations in Mesopotamia between 19 January and 30 April 1916. The three mentions would ultimately be represented on his Victory Medal ribbon by a single authorized Mention in Despatches oak-leaf emblem, rather than by three separate emblems.

Logan earned a Bar to his Distinguished Conduct Medal for another action in Mesopotamia. On 6 September 1916 he led a party sent to reconnoitre and bomb an advanced enemy saphead near Sannaiyat. According to the published citation, he controlled the party carefully, withholding their bombs until the enemy had been located. The party then attacked and withdrew to the British position, suffering two wounded men during the return. The Bar was announced in the London Gazette on 29 August 1917, by which time Logan held the rank of Sergeant.

During the same period Logan received a second Mention in Despatches, published on 15 August 1917 in connection with Lieutenant-General Sir Stanley Maude's operations in Mesopotamia. He was also decorated by Imperial Russia with the Cross of St George, 4th Class. This foreign gallantry award is independently confirmed by the London Gazette of 15 May 1917, which lists "2702 Serjeant William Logan, Royal Highlanders" among the recipients of the 4th Class Cross. His surviving cross is officially numbered 807686.

Logan's third award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal resulted from his actions at Istabulat on 21 April 1917. At a critical point in the fighting he led a party of bombers forward under heavy fire and continued to control them until he was wounded. His actions helped repel a counter-attack and recover a redoubt. The Second Bar to his D.C.M., representing his third award of the decoration, was published in the London Gazette on 1 May 1918. The citation characterized him as an exceptionally fearless and effective leader.

A third Mention in Despatches followed, published on 12 March 1918 in connection with Maude's account of operations between 1 April and 30 September 1917. Logan therefore finished the war with three separate Mentions in Despatches in addition to the D.C.M. and two Bars and his Russian decoration.

His documented medal group consists of the Distinguished Conduct Medal with two Bars, the 1914 Star with clasp, the British War Medal 1914–1920, the Victory Medal with MID oak-leaf emblem, and the Imperial Russian Cross of St George, 4th Class. The 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal were campaign awards. Logan's principal personal gallantry distinctions were the D.C.M. and its two Bars, while the oak leaf represented his Mentions in Despatches and the Russian Cross represented a separate Allied gallantry award. His surviving group has been catalogued independently by both Noonans and Spink.

The award of a D.C.M. with two Bars was exceptionally uncommon. Noonans records only ten recipients of the D.C.M. and two Bars during the First World War, placing Logan among a very small group of soldiers who received the Distinguished Conduct Medal on three occasions.

After the war Logan returned to the 1st Battalion and went to India in September 1919. His subsequent military career ended in very different circumstances. Research accompanying his surviving medal group records that he deserted from the 1st Battalion at Allahabad, returned to the United Kingdom, and reported himself as a deserter at Queen's Barracks, Perth, sometime between the end of May and 14 October 1922. The same research states that he was tried by court martial for desertion and dismissed from the service. These details are consistently reported by both Noonans and Spink, although the original 1922 court-martial proceedings or discharge papers have not yet been examined in this review and the precise legal wording of his discharge should therefore be treated with appropriate caution.

Logan's desertion forms part of his documented history, but it belongs to a different period of his life from the actions for which his wartime decorations were awarded. His First World War gallantry was formally recognized through three awards of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, three Mentions in Despatches, and the Imperial Russian Cross of St George. Whatever the circumstances surrounding the end of his military service, those wartime awards record specific acts of leadership and courage that had already been officially recognized.

William Logan died at Kirkcaldy, Fife, on 31 January 1951. His surviving medal group preserves the contrasting chapters of an unusual military career: an early-war soldier of the Black Watch, a repeatedly decorated non-commissioned officer in the Mesopotamian campaign, and later a deserter whose service ended under court martial. His story is notable precisely because it cannot be reduced to either part alone.