A Menstrie teenager lied about his age to fight in the Great War and then received a medal for saving two soldiers during the conflict.

Garnet Cameron pretended he was 18-year-old ‘James McDonald’ in order to fight when war was declared on Germany by Great Britain on 4 August, 1914.

When the 17-year-old’s deception was eventually uncovered he was booted out of the army.

However, in the same building he was demobbed the army was recruiting, and he walked straight back in and signed up using his real name.

His grandson, Clackmannanshire Councillor Walter McAdam, recounted his tale to the Advertiser this week as he showed off his four war medals – two marked with his fake name ‘Sergeant J McDonald’ and two under his real name ‘Bombardier Garnet Cameron’.

Mr McAdam said, “He signed up when he was 17 and when they found he was discharged – but he just walked across the room and signed up again under his real name.” He said that during his grandfather’s second stint in the war he went on to save two men, receiving The Military Medal for bravery, but full details of his actions have been lost.

Mr McAdam continued, “All I know is that he saved two other soldiers. His son tried to find out the full story but the records had been lost when the building was blitzed during the Second World War.” His grandfather returned home to Clackmannanshire and lived in Menstrie where he worked as a gardener. He died just a few years later from tuberculosis.