Corporal James Hendry

Corporal James Hendry was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the gallantry and self sacrifice he displayed on June 13 1941. He was serving with No.1 Tunnelling Company of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers, who had been given the task of digging the Laggan Tunnel to supply water to the British Aluminium works at Kinlochleven, when a fire broke out in a powder house full of explosives. The twenty-nine year old ordered his colleagues to run to safety and attempted to extinguish the blaze, rather than attempt to escape the inevitable explosion. The huge blast also killed his colleague John Macdougall Stewart, and seven more were injured.

He was buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey. The Royal Canadian Engineers dedicated their range control building to the corporal in recognition of his bravery in 1994. [http://www.strathspey-herald.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/711/Village_re-discovers_hero_of_war_explosion_.html] In August, 2008, a memorial cairn honouring Cpl. Hendry was unveiled at Loch Laggan. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7556305.stm] The ceremony was attended by his last surviving brother, William Hendry, of Thunder Bay, Ontario.