It had always been intended to raise a cairn in France to commemorate the casualties and achievements of McCrae\'s Battalion, three quarters of who were killed or injured on the first day of the battle of the Somme in July 1916. Now, 88 years later, the Cairn has been built by Scottish contractors using Scottish Clashach stone surrounded by Caithness paving.

The battalion, the 16th Royal Scotts but known as McCrae\'s Own, were credited with having pushed on further into German territory that day than any other British troops. They reached the tiny hamlet of Contalmaison and it is there that the cairn has been built, as it was always intended it should be.

The man behind the erection of the Cairn, who designed it from a sketch made by one of the officers of the time, is historian Jack Alexander, who has written a book* about the battalion.

He enlisted the help of Westlothian stonemasons Watson Stonecraft, who donated the stone and their services to build the 3m high cairn in Contalmaison that was dedicated before a congregation of 400 Scottish and English people, as well as some of the French villagers, last month (November).

The stone was also donated - Sutherland supplied the Caithness and Stevens & Wick the Clashach. And it was carried over to France by a haulage firm that did not charge for their services, such was the feeling about the project in Scotland.

Graham Haddon, managing director of Watson Stonecraft, says they had to dig down 3m to find solid ground for the foundations because the land had been so severely pulverised by the shelling of World War I.

During the building of the cairn the locals came and helped themselves to offcuts of stone for their gardens, but they always left something in return, mostly bottles of beer, although one person left a fish that the two masons and apprentice (the son of one of the masons) building the cairn took home to their landlady who cooked it for them.

The Battalion being commemorated was known as McCrae\'s because it was Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George McCrae who recruited the men to serve in it and, although no youngster, insisted on leading them in France personally.

What made the Battalion so famous was that among the first to answer Sir George\'s recruitment call were 13 professional footballers from Heart of Midlothian football club, leaders of the Scottish League at that time. It caused a sensation and after that it took Sir George just six days to reach his target of 1,350 volunteers, including 150 supporters of Hearts\' great rivals, Hibernian.

*McCrae\'s Battalion, ISBN (hardback, £15.99) 1-84018-707-7 (paperback, £9.99) 1-84018-932-0. Author Jack Alexander.