Mr Ritch watched his friend die at the hands of German gunners in the trenches in France on October 4, 1916.

The actual events of that day are contained in a letter, written by Mr Ritch to Will’s father, Robert Heron, around a month after Will’s death The poignant letter only came to light among some Heron family papers discovered by Robert’s grandson, also called Robert.

He wrote to The Orcadian describing what he saw as, “an incredible example of what two young Scots men, one from Orkney and one from Lanarkshire, meant to each other in that most awful of battles in the Somme nearly 100 years ago.”

The letter led Robert to wonder whether young Ritch had himself survived the war and returned to Orkney.

“Are there any Orkney Ritch’s living today? Maybe his name is remembered. I wish I knew. If this catches anybody’s interest I would be so happy to hear,” Robert writes.

He explained that the men had both left Scotland for Canada in their teens, joining the Canadian Highlanders TA.

Months later they were sent to France.

The letter written by Ritch is dated Sunday, November 5, 1916. It was written on army headed paper – “On Active Service with the British Expeditionary Force”.

Many young men’s compassion during the difficult war years will have gone unnoticed and unrewarded. But Mr R. Ritch’s passion for duty – and his friends – is obvious.

He writes: “No doubt by this time the Record Office has conveyed to you the sad news of your son’s death in action out here.

“I feel rather ashamed of myself for not writing to you sooner but I had some difficulty in getting your address and I am not very sure that I have got the right address now.”

In an attempt to ease the grief suffered by Will’s parents, Mr Ritch felt it was his duty to write and give all the information he could of the events surrounding Will’s death.

“It was on the afternoon of October 4th that it happened,” he writes. “Will and I serve in charge of a large carrying party carrying ammunition and bombs to the front line and I don’t know whether the German gunners had seen us or not, but they simply poured a shower of high explosive shells and shrapnel around and we got scattered pretty bad.”

Will was standing in the trenches at the time talking with an officer “as if nothing was happening” when a shell landed in the trench and he was killed. Five others were wounded.

You can only imagine what was going through young Ritch’s mind as he sat down to write the letter.

“It speaks volumes about one Orkney boy and his character,” Robert said. “It moved me considerably and I can just imagine the day my grandfather got it in his hands.”

Of Will’s death Mr Ritch continues to say: “The only consolation we have, although that is small, is that death was instantaneous and he never suffered.”

Will’s body was carried back from the firing line by Mr Ritch and three other men to a small British cemetery.

A burial service was carried out by a battalion chaplain. “So that is one little comfort to me. I don’t know if ever that will comfort you any or not to know that he was laid to rest in a nice quiet little cemetery instead of his body bleaching on the field where, I am sorry to say, there are hundreds of our boys going unburied.”

In an evil twist, Mr Ritch had himself lost a brother only a month before Will’s death.

“I can tell you Mr Heron, you are a man and understand these things better than a woman, I am feeling pretty lonely now without my chum as my own brother was killed recently a month previous to Will’s death.”

Mr Ritch, as he says in the letter, came through those battles without a scratch and as long as he lived vowed to avenge their deaths.

He told Will’s father: “But we have got Fritze now where we want him and your son’s death and my brother’s won’t go unavenged as long as God spares me to live.”

Despite his own grief, Mr Ritch is still understanding of the Herons’ loss and writes: “I know how terrible hard it must be for you and especially Mrs Heron to lose such a good brave boy. For he sure was one of the best.

“I know how Mrs Heron must be feel as my own mother was in a terrible way when she heard of my brother’s death and she was all alone as my father died when I was three years old.”

Towards the end of the letter, young Ritch tells them that his home is in the north of Scotland, the Orkney Isles, and despite being in Canada he still has “good, Scotch blood in his veins”.

“I hope to be home on leave sometime this winter and then I will give you the name of the place where your son died and where he is buried,” he promises.

“The whole Bombing Platoon extend to you, Mr Heron and family their sincere sympathy in your sad bereavement, I am, yours truly, R. Ritch 153 474, Grenade Section, 43rd Battalion, Canadian Camerons, France.”

If anyone can piece together details of Mr R. Ritch and what became of him, they can contact Mr Robert Heron, Well Cottage, Cove, Tiverton, Devon.