When George Esson's book For Freedom & Honour was published in 2001 he wrote that John McKenzie was the first South Ronaldsay soldier to die in the Great War. Research since has shown that John was the first soldier or sailor to die in action who is commemorated on any of the Orkney war memorials. Sources of material on Great War casualties and the units (or ships) that they served in have greatly increased in the last ten years.  An updated biography on the sadly brief life and early wartime death of John McKenzie has been added as a Word document to the South Ronaldsay section of the website, or can be downloaded direct as a pdf using the link below.