Private James Queenan

Private James Queenan,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. He had been born at Southdown and was the son of John and Mary Queenan of Oxnam Row and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey. That fateful day became known as the ” Black day of the Borders ” as out of the over 700 Officers and Other Ranks who had begun the attack only 70 unwounded Men answered to evening roll call. Few Border towns and villages had not lost at least one of their sons that day. Both the Colonel and his Adjutant were posted missing presumed killed. The first photo shows Achi Baba, the ultimate objective, marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows the Borderers attacking at Gallipoli and the third shows the battlefield in 1922.