This post seeks to celebrate the short life of John Dudley Sandeman, who died aged 19 years, January 1960.
Oban Times, 9th January 1960:
The father of John Dudley Sandeman died suddenly, just a few hours before his son was reported missing:
Andrew Gordon at the memorial to John Dudley Sandeman, August 2025:
In the following poem, I mention Simon. This is a personal reference to Simon Sutherland, a school friend of mine, who died by accident in 1995 when climbing Lochnagar.
John Dudley Sandeman: Lost in the view
For two years they searched.
You were found
on the
watershed:
Bealach an Amais
‘Pass of the Find’.
For two years, the Landscape Held You.
Lost in the view.
In your rucksack,
Volume 19 of
‘The Great Lives of the Voyagers’
That your father had given you as you set out
for the mountains.
John, we went to the same school
but our friendship,
with Simon
is almost mythical.
Like Time itself.
Yesterday, Andrew, my son,
Now older than you [and Simon] when you both died,
waved to me from
Bealach an Amais.