Sergeant Andrew Gilbert Robson M.M.

Sergeant Andrew Gilbert Robson M.M. 15th ( Service ) Battalion Durham Light Infantry. He was killed in action on 29th May 1918, aged 30, during the German Spring offensives. He had been born in Wark, Northumberland and was the son of Andrew and Helen Robson of Market Square, Coldstream and is buried in Hermonville Military Cemetery, France. He was the uncle of Andy Ferguson who lived in Coldstream. The medals were loaned to Coldstream Museum where they went mysteriously  missing. He had enlisted in September 1914 and had fought through the Battles of Loos and the Somme. Before enlisting he had served his apprenticeship as a gardener at the Lees, Coldstream before becoming gardener for Mr James Redhead in South Shields.  He was awarded his Military Medal in January 1918 for bravery in the field. He fell during the Third Battle of the Aisne which in itself was part of the German Spring Offensives which created a large bulge in the Allied lines in the Chemin Des Dames sector. The Battalion  made a stout defence of the village of Cauroy-les-Hermonville before being forced to withdraw by sheer force of numbers. The photographs show troops preparing to meet the advancing Germans.