Private George Reid

Private George Reid, ” A ” Coy. 15th ( Service ) Battalion, Royal Scots. He was killed in action in France on 1st July 1916, aged 25, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He was the son of Charles and Jane Reid of Kelso and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. He fell in the attack on heavily fortified village of La Boiselle. Casualties in the face of undestroyed machine guns were very severe but some of the objectives were taken and held. Over three days from 1st July the Battalion lost  628 Officers and Other Ranks. The photo shows that there is very little cover and a wide no mans land for the advancing troops and the colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.