Private Charles Street

Private Charles Street, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action at Gallipoli on 12th July 1915, aged 23, during the ” Charge ” on the Turkish positions at Achi Baba Nullah. He was the son of Charles and Maria McKenzie Street of Floors Castle Gardens, Kelso and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey. That fateful day cost the Battalion over 600 casualties and became known as the “Black Day of the Borders”  as few Border towns and villages had not lost at least one of their sons. At evening roll call only 70 unwounded men answered. The author’s Great Uncle Corporal Jim Murray was wounded and spent six weeks in hospital in Alexandria before returning to Gallipoli or ” the Pen” as he called it. The contemporary photograph shows Achi Baba marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second photo shows the Borderers going into the attack at Gallipoli and the third shows the Battlefield in 1922.

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