Private George Johnston

Private George Johnston, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. ( No entry under C.W.G.C. site but there is the following ) Lance Corporal George William Johnston, 15th ( Service ) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. He was killed in action in France, aged 26, during the Battle of the Somme on 16th September 1916 and is buried in the A.I.F. Burial Ground, Flers, Somme, France. He was born in Eyemouth and was the son of Elizabeth and the late Alexander Johnston of Eyemouth and the husband of Eleanor Johnston of Monkwearmouth, Sunderland.  He was working in a shipyard in Wallsend when he enlisted in September 1914. ( It may be that he enlisted in the K.O.S.B. before transferring to the D.L.I.). The autumn rains turned the ground into a glutinous quagmire which made all movement very difficult as can be seen from the photographs. The colour image shows part of a peaceful Somme landscape as it is today with ” no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.