Flying Officer John Ronald Gillespie

Flying Officer Gillespie, The Royal Air Force (V.R.), was born on 27th June 1924, and at Loretto from June 1937 to March 1942. He was in the VI Form and the Athletics and Boxing Teams. From School he went to Cambridge, but left to join the R.A.F. His initial training was done in Canada, whence he returned as a Sergeant Pilot and was soon afterwards commissioned and attached to a Bomber Squadron in Yorkshire, flying a Halifax machine. He started operational work in October 1944. Almost immediately afterwards he was posted as missing, and it was later discovered that his plane had been destroyed by enemy flak over Cleve in Holland, on 7th October.

" Behind his jolly manner I sensed an air of added responsibility and a determination to achieve and to lead... John and his gallant crew accomplished their task. A solitary cross in a garden in Cleve marks the end of their journey and their share in the victory of the cause for which they made the sacrifice. Had he known what lay ahead, John would not have had it otherwise, for his was the courage which endures."

Major Magnus Vivian Gray

Major Gray, 7th Battalion, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), was born on 2nd March, 1916, and at Loretto from September 1924 to July 1934. He was a Prefect, in the VI Form, XV, XI, Hockey, Athletics and Boxing Teams and Fives Couples, and a Sergeant in the O.T.C. From School he went to the R.M. College, Sandhurst, and on passing out was commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the Cameronians, with which he served in Palestine and afterwards, in 1942, during the retreat from Rangoon to Assam. In 1943 he left the Battalion to work at the Headquarters of the 39th Indian Division stationed in Assam, but late in the same year joined the 7th Battalion and trained for several months with the 52nd Mountain Division. In August 1944 the Division was sent to France, and in October took part in the Walcheren-Antwerp operations. Major Gray was wounded in November, but returned to the 7th Battalion, then in the neighbourhood of Brussels, early in December. On 21st January 1945, after five days` heavy fighting, the Battalion was engaged in a counter-attack in a small village near Sittard. Word came that a small detachment had been separated from the main body, and Major Gray set out with only a few men to find them. He was hit by mortar fire, and when discovered some hours later died in a field dressing station from loss of blood. He is buried at Sittard.

"I would rather have lost anyone but him."
"Magnus was loved and respected by all ranks as a good friend, a very gallant soldier, and a great gentleman."

Captain Robert Biggart Gow Gray

Captain Gray, 5th Battalion, The Queen`s Own Cameron Highlanders, was born on 11th July 1918, and at Loretto from May 1932 to July 1937. He was Head of School, in the VI Form, Captain of the XV, in the Hockey and Athletics Teams and Fives Couples, and C.S.M., O.T.C. After being commissioned into the Cameron Highlanders he was attached to the 5th Battalion K.O.S.B., with which he served in France in 1940. In November 1941 he returned to his own regiment and was later appointed A.D.C. to the General of the Highland Division during the North African campaign - from El Alamein to the end of the operations in Sicily. He came home with the Division in October 1943, and in June 1944 crossed to Normandy as a Captain in the 5th Battalion of the Cameron Highlanders. On 18th July of that year he died of wounds received in action the same day.

"He was a good Cameron Highlander, a lad of high ideals and with the right ideas and a high sense of duty."