Private John Darrie

Private John Darrie, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action, aged 20, at Gallipoli on 12th July 1915 during the assault on the three lines of Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey. He had been born in Hume, Berwickshire and was the son of Andrew and Jane Darrie of Hoselaw Mains, Linton, Roxburghshire. That fateful day became known as the “Black Day of the Borders” as at evening roll call only 70 unwounded men answered out of the 700 Officers and Other Ranks who had begun the attack. Few Border towns and villages had not lost at least one of their sons that day. 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 attacking at Gallipoli and the third shows the Battlefield in 1922.

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