James Dalgleish Pollock was born in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire. He was a corporal in the 5th Battalion, The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders when he showed great bravery in the trenches at the Battle of Loos. His citation for the Victoria Cross was published in the London Gazette on 18 Dec 1915:
On 27 Sep 1915 near the Hohenzollern Redoubt, France, at about noon, the enemy’s bombers, in superior numbers, were successfully working up ‘Little Willie’ trench towards the redoubt. Corporal Pollock, after obtaining permission, got out of the trench alone and walked along the top edge with complete disregard for danger, and compelled the enemy bombers to retire by bombing them from above. He was under heavy machine-gun fire the whole time, but contrived to hold up the progress of the Germans for an hour before he was at length wounded.
As well as being awarded the Victoria Cross, he was commissioned and left the army in 1919 as a captain. When WW2 broke out he volunteered for the Royal Observer Corps which employed civilians on a part-time basis, but Pollock became an Observer Officer and full-time Duty Controller in No.33 Aberdeen (Ayr) Group. He held the rank of lieutenant during his service in the ROC. He died at Ballochyle, Ayrshire on 10 May 1958.
