Private Douglas Anderson

Private Douglas Macclesfield Anderson, 7th ( 1st British Columbia ) Battalion, Canadian Infantry. He was a Battalion signaller and was killed in action in Belgium on 24th April 1915, aged 22, during the Second Battle of Ypres. He was the elder son of Col. J.W.M. Anderson and Edith Anderson of The Thirlings, Wooler and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium. He fell during the very severe fighting at St. Julien when poison gas was first used against Canadian troops. Despite this and with great courage the line was held and a German breakthrough was prevented. There is a plaque in the Church which states ” He twice saved his Sergeant’s life under fire and was last seen aiding his wounded comrades “. There is a plaque in his memory on the church wall. The image depicts the Canadian’s desperate defence and the photograph shows troops in their rudimentary gas masks after the first German gas attack on the Western Front on 22nd April 1915.

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