Les Wilson will hold a book launch in Bowmore Distillery for his new book The Drowned and the Saved, When War came to the Hebrides. It's a book about the horrors of World War 1 on Islay, which is now 100 years ago. This year there will be many events around Scotland to commemorate World War 1 and Islay plays an important role. The war arrived directly on the shores of Islay with the sinking of the Tuscania and Otranto resulting in the deaths of over 500 mainly American servicemen. A new website has been built with many stories of that time as well as the major events which will take place this year. See https://ww100islay.com/.
A quote from the Drowned and the Saved book review in the Ileach: "As a journalist, Les eschews overtly flowery language, but his writing is no less descriptive for it. The detailed personal stories paint pictures of tragedies that, reading of them, is fortunately the closest we will ever come. Information has been taken from log books, letters and interviews which outline the personal experiences of individuals caught up in the most horrific of situations. The level of detail hammers home the hellish nightmare of the sinkings. Les weaves in those stories with what was happening on Islay itself; local people responding to flares and galvanising themselves and others to help the stricken, all the more complicated with no telephones on Islay in 1918." Continue reading...