Private Henry Mercer

Private Henry Gray Mercer, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He died on 4th October 1918 in France of wounds received in action during the “Advance to Victory” aged 21. He had been born in Duns and was the son of George and Elizabeth Middlemiss Mercer of Langton Kennels, Duns and is buried in Proville Cemetery, France.  He had joined the Battalion in Egypt and served in Palestine before the Battalion moved to France in April 1918 to help stem the German Spring Offensives. It is likely he was wounded in the abortive attack on the Faubourg de Paris strongpoint which had taken place the previous day. His Headstone is inscribed ” His Memory Is Dear”. The photographs show Allied troops during the advance against the retreating German Army in the final 100 days of the War.