Private Andrew Oliver

Private Andrew Oliver ( probably ) 2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in Flanders, aged 29, on 4th October 1917 during the Battle of Third Ypres and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He had been born in Bonkyl and was the son of the late Andrew and Mary Oliver of Brockholes, Grantshouse and Cairncross, Reston. He fell in the attack on Polderhoek Chateau just North of the Menin Road. The weather was appalling and the German counter barrage heavy. This resulted in heavy casualties of 11 Officers and 438 Other Ranks. It was during this action that Captain Machin of Coldstream won his Military Cross. The photos show the desolation and waterlogged slime of the Flanders battlefields where the incessant shelling had destroyed the drainage systems.