Private Joseph Boston

Private Joseph Henry Boston, 1st/9th ( Highland ) Battalion, Royal Scots ( Dandy Ninth ). He was killed in action in France on 31st March 1918, aged 21, during the German March Offensive ( Operation Michael ) which had commenced on 21st March. He had been born in Edinburgh and was the son of Peter and Mary Boston of 1 Hawarden, Spittal and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France. He fell near Villers-Bretonneux where the Battalion assisted in a successful  Australian counter attack which saved the town and possibly the major objective of Amiens from capture. During the period 21st March-31st March casualties were 3 Officers and 45 Other Ranks killed and 15 Officers and 287 Other Ranks wounded. In addition 138 Other Ranks were posted missing some of whom were Prisoners of War. The Battalion was relieved on 3rd April. He had already been wounded in France in April 1917 and survived the torpedoing of the hospital ship ” Donegal ” in the English Channel. The photographs show Allied troops preparing to resist the advancing Germans. The Battalion was part of the 154th Brigade in the 51st ( Highland ) Division and after the War a very impressive Memorial was erected in commemoration. It was erected overlooking “Y” Ravine in Newfoundland Park on the Somme which was taken on the 13th November 1916 when the Division stormed and captured the German positions in Beaumont Hamel. A plaque on the Memorial reads in both English and Gaelic ” Friends Are Good On The Day Of Battle”.