Second Lieutenant Norman Kennedy

Second Lieutenant Norman Kennedy, 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. He died in hospital in France on 31st October 1917, aged 23, as a result of wounds during the Battle of Third Ypres. He was the son of Catherine and the late Thomas Kennedy of Ancrum and is buried in Longuenesse ( St. Omer ) Souvenir Cemetery, St. Omer, France. His brother James also fell ( see above ). He had been working in Edinburgh with the Scottish Insurance Commission and was a member of the 4th ( Territorial ) Royal Scots. With them he was mobilised in August 1914 and went with them to Gallipoli in June 1915 with the rest of the 52nd ( Lowland ) Division.  He then served in Egypt and returned hone in September 1916 to be commissioned in the Royal Scots Fusiliers  He was wounded on the 26th September in the attack at Hill 70 near Zonnebeke and died in the 7th General Hospital in St Omer. This attack amid the swamps cost the Battalion 437 casualties with 8 Officers and 57 Other Ranks killed or died from wounds and 8 Officers and 317 Other Ranks wounded. In addition 67 Other Ranks were posted missing.  The photographs show the desolate state  of the Flanders battlefield where the drainage systems had been destroyed by the incessant shelling. His Headstone is inscribed ” Till The Day Dawn “.