William Benzie Goodall

The River Tweed runs through Coldstream in Berwickshire, with traffic crossing by The Border Bridge.  Immediately at the north end of the bridge stands Bridge House.  Originally built to exact tolls on traffic crossing the bridge, it enjoyed a second life after tolls were abolished in 1826, with 'runaway weddings' from England taking place at Bridge House until the practice was abolished in 1856.  It was in some respects the eastern equivalent of Gretna Green.

Just over 60 years later and in far more respectable circumstances, William Benzie Goodall was born here on 3rd April 1913 to Thomas Mackenzie Goodall, a golf greenkeeper, and Mary (nee Benzie).  They had been married in Edinburgh six years previously.

William was one of (I think) seven children, five boys and two girls (although one brother died as a young child).

The next glimpse of William we have is the 1921 Census.  

William is aged eight and has three brothers; the youngest was born in Strathblane.  The Census does not record that his mother, Mary, was likely pregnant with Violet, her first daughter.  His father, Thomas, is a garden labourer, presumably on a freelance basis.

Their house is called Mugdock Bank (although as the Census record shows, the neighbouring property was described in the same way so I assume it was a cluster of properties).  Note that the parents and four boys lived in a three-room house.

The area is immediately north of Mugdock Reservoir at Milngavie but south of the road to Mugdock Village:

I have not been able to find Mugdock Bank but a cluster of properties just off the road from Milngavie to Strathblane have the word Bank in their name (ringed in red), so I assume this was the location.

William's first job was as a gardener, presumably working with his father, but he seems to have sought a little more from life and on 28th February 1931, just short of his 18th birthday, he enrolled in the Territorial Army (today called the Army Reserve) at Milngavie.  He served part-time in the 9th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders until February 1936, reaching the rank of corporal.

By 1938 (aged 25), William earned a living driving a van.  He was living with his parents at 47 Ferguson Avenue, Milngavie (by Oakburn Park).  On 19th July 1938 he married Mary Shearer (aged 24).  Mary lived at 84 Drymen Road with her parents; her occupation was clerk.  

The marriage was registered at 162 Buchanan Street:

Sadly, number 162 is in the rather prosaic building on the right, not the eight-floor beauty on the left!  Today the ground floor is a branch of Greggs (by Buchanan Galleries):

They had two children, Margaret Stoddart Goodall (born 1939) and William Benzie Goodall (born 1940).

On 3rd April 1939, war was looming and William rejoined the Territorials, this time in the Royal Artillery.  On 20th July 1939 he attended the annual camp for 15 days, but only four weeks after he returned home, Hitler invaded Poland.  William was called up on 1st September and war was declared on 3rd September.  He was soon given the rank of sergeant (a senior rank below an officer).

His papers describe him as 5 feet 10 inches, 180 pounds, fresh complexion, dark hair and green eyes.

His unit was training in the UK until May 1942 when they were sent to the Middle East as part of 8th Army, the Desert Rats, then to Italy.  This entitled him to the Africa Star with 8th Army clasp:

In July 1943 there is an intriguing entry in his military record:

William committed an offence under Section 40 of the Army Act, but no further details are given.  This section is very broad, covering many misdemeanours, but we can probably judge from the fact he was severely reprimanded the next day but did not lose his rank that it was nothing of lasting significance.

By the autumn of 1944 he was in the 15th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery in Italy.  The 8th Army, with its Allies, was fighting its way north.  While progress was being made it was slow, expensive in lives lost and dispiriting.

At the start of 1st September 1944, William was at Urbiano, a beautiful small town in central Italy (although whether the wartime reality quite matched the 'tourist board' image is not recorded - I chose this photo because it gives an idea of the terrain the soldiers were fighting through, always another range of hills).  

In the morning, the regiment helped to breakup a German attack near the River Foglia.  They then advanced across that river and stopped further up the hillside towards Mondaino.  'T' battery went first at 11am, followed by the rest of the regiment around 2pm and they began to engage targets now out of range of the heavier guns further back.

The 15 Field Regiment could advance in this way because they were equipped with Sextons, self-propelled guns - essentially the highly effective 25-pounder gun mounted on a Sherman tank chassis, and hence capable of going across all terrains:

This photo of a Sexton was taken near Mondiano on 6th September and could be from 15 Field Regiment.

The guns continued to fire in support of the infantry through the afternoon.  At 6.30pm three mortar bombs landed near Regimental HQ killing four (two signallers attached to the regiment and two gunners including Ernest Williams who had been batman to the second-in-command for five years).  Captain JH Bennett, Royal Army Medical Corps, was injured but continued to treat others.

The regiment was now firing to support the 2/6^th Battalion of the Queen's Regiment who were being attacked, and then to support a British attack.  The Germans shelled the area intermittently.  Then at 10.30pm B Troop Command Post took a direct hit.  R Battery commander reported Lieutenant GW Moles (GPO) and three number 1s (the men in charge of each gun crew, Sgt Rennie, Sgt Goodall, L/Sgt Webber), another NCO and one gunner were killed.  Two sergeants and one signaller were seriously wounded.  Captain AP Inglis was slightly wounded.

William is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Gradara:

The inscription selected, presumably by his wife reads "He lives for ever/ In our Hearts/ Beloved and unforgotten".

CWGC records his wife as living at 84 Drymen Road, Bearsden, her parents' address.  (This is in the sandstone building opposite the junction with Station Road, Pizza Hut is number 86 and The Lantern is number 82. Number 84 is the premises of Dental FX.)

I believe his children both married - Mrs Margaret Findlay may have lived in Killearn, and Mr Robert Goodall and his wife Catherine may have lived in Helensburgh.

For completeness, the other 15 Field Regiment men who died that day were:

1. in the mortaring of Regimental HQ:

One man is named in the diary as "Williams E" who had been batman to the second-in-commend for nearly five years. This would be Lance Bombardier Ernest Sidney Williams from Wednesbury in Staffordshire, a married man of 36

From a CWGC list of war dead in Italy for this date one signaller was specifically attached to 15 FR, Signalman Harold Albon, 28, from Willesden

The other signaller was probably Signalman Herbert Fawcett, 29, from Warley in Yorkshire - two signallers other than Albon are buried in Gradara (where all those who died in these two incidents are buried) but one was specifically attached to another unit, leaving Fawcett.

Another gunner was killed, see below.

2. in the shelling of B Troop, R Battery:

Lieutenant Charles Mole, 31, a solicitor from Berkshire

Serjeant Stewart Rennie, 25 from Dalry in Ayrshire

Serjeant William Goodall, 31

Lance Serjeant Frederick Webber, 24 from Nadder Water by Exeter

Lance Bombardier Frank Goody, 24 from Birmingham

Another gunner died as well

The two gunners who died were Francis Tugwell and Arthur Beech. 23, from Barnsley, but in which of the two events I do not know.  All are buried with William Goodall at Gradara.