Private Gilbert Cowan

Private Gilbert George Cowan, 10th ( Service ) Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He was killed in action in Belgium on 28th October 1917, aged 23. during the Battle of Third Ypres. He was the son of Gilbert and Jane Cowan of 32 Montague Street, Newcastleton and is buried in Ramscapelle Road Military Cemetery, nr. Nieuport, Belgium. He had already been wounded twice , at Loos and the Somme. Before enlisting in September 1914 he had been employed in the agricultural sector at Dinley, Newcastleton. The photos show the desolate state of the Flanders battlefield where the incessant shelling had destroyed the drainage systems. His Headstone is inscribed ” Till The Day Dawns “. The colour photo shows the impressive Memorial raised to commemorate the men of the 9th and 15th ( Scottish ) Divisions who fell in the Battle. The 10th Argylls were part of the 26th Brigade in the 9th ( Scottish ) Division. It was erected on the Frezenberg Ridge near the village of Zonnevbeke in the Ypres Salient and was unveiled in August 2007. A plaque in both Gaelic and English is affixed to the front of the Memorial and contains a quote from the Declaration of Arbroath.