Private William Mack

Private William Mack, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action, aged 23, at Gallipoli on 12th July 1915 during the ” Charge ” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey. He was the son of Thomas and the late Letitia Mack of Manorhill farm, Makerstoun and Blakelaw, Kelso. Before enlisting he had been employed as a shepherd at Fans Farm, Earlston, Berwickshire. That day became known as the “Black Day of the Borders” as at evening roll call only 70 unwounded men answered out of the over 700 Officers and Other Ranks who had begun the attack. Few Borders towns and villages had not lost at least one of their sons that fateful day. The first photo shows Achi Baba, the objective, marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows the Borderers going over the top and attacking at Gallipoli and the third shows the battlefield in 1922. ( His brother Frank also fell, see above).

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