Gunner Thomas Sibbald

Gunner Robert Sibbald, 218th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. He was killed in Belgium, aged 26, on the 24th July 1917. He had been born in Kirkton and was the son of Thomas and Mary Sibbald of Deanbrae, Kirkton. He is buried in Bus House Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium. He had been employed as a shepherd when he enlisted in December 1915, landing in France with his Battery in January 1917. The R.G.A. used howitzers such as the 9.2 inch example on display in the Imperial War Museum. They were often used to destroy enemy strongpoints and deep defences with their plunging fire.