The Invergordon Archive

The Gravestone of Richard Geddes

This is the gravestone of Richard Geddes who appears in picture #45 on this site. He was a Seaforth Highlander and was in France with the 51st Highland Division at the outbreak of WW2. When resistance to the German invasion collapsed in June 1940, the 51st were too far South to make it to Dunkirk so they tried to get further West in the hope of finding ships to take them home. They were accompanied by General de Gaulle and some French troops. At Abbeville the General insisted that an attempt be made to push the Germans back. This was futile and during the action my Uncle Richard was killed. His name is on the Invergordon war memorial. Very few of the HD men made it home and most of them were captured by the Germans and spent the war in prison camps in Poland, quite ironic given that we had Free Polish Army troops in a camp at Invergordon.