Private George Anderson

Private George Anderson, 9th ( Highland ) Battalion, Royal Scots ( The Dandy Ninth ). He was killed in Belgium on 8th September 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres, aged 33. He was the son of the late William and Betsy Anderson and the husband of Isabella Broomfield Anderson of Baillieknowe Farm, Kelso and is commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. Before the War he had been employed by the Duke of Roxburghe as a gamekeeper. At that time the Battalion were in front line trenches near Poelcappelle in the Ypres Salient. The autumnal rains and the incessant shellfire destroyed the Flanders drainage systems and turned the battlefield into a morass as can be seen in the photographs. The Battalion was part of the 51st ( Highland ) Division and after the War an impressive Memorial was raised in commemoration. It was erected overlooking “Y” Ravine on the Somme which was taken when the Division stormed the strong German positions in Beaumont Hamel on the 13th November 1916 at the end of the Battle of the Somme. A Plaque on the Memorial reads in both English and Gaelic ” Friends Are Good On the Day Of Battle”.

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