Pvt Jack Arnold Clarke, Black Watch, wounded in Aden
Uncle Jack was my grandfather's brother. I remember him in the 1980s as a kind, jolly, very knowledgable country man who could wring a chicken's neck, set traps, but also as a hobby painted model soldiers and Subbuteo footballers, and made jigsaws. But he also walked with a heavy limp which I found out was a prosthetic leg and all I knew was that he had been injured in the war. The story being he had been shot (machine-gunned) rescuing a wounded comrade from the battlefield. I never knew how true this was until I was sent these records of him.
The two photos show Jack in his kilted uniform for the Black Watch and then in the tartan trousers loading/unloading (?) a truck of the 2n Bn Black Watch. Jack is the furthest to the right looking at the camera and smiling. On the back it reads 'To Mr Clarke with compliments and kindest regards J.K.ArgylesRobertson(?) Colonel (your old Coy Comdr)'.
His service record shows he enlisted in 1934 in the Black Watch, served in Palestine 1937-1940, then to Aden where presumably he was injured (p. 3), and discharged 24 July 1941 (having been to Perth to recuperate). The key detail for me is p. 5 noting he received gun shot wounds to the right leg, right arm, left ankle, and shoulder which suggests at least automatic fire.
