Private John Bell

Private John  Fair Bell, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in Palestine during the Second Battle of Gaza on 19th April 1917, aged 27. He was the son of Mrs Bell of Netherbyres, Ayton and is commemorated on the Jerusalem War Memorial. He fell in the abortive attack on “Outpost Hill” led by the gallant Major Wattie Forrest of Kelso, where very heavy casualties were suffered, 15 Officers and 340 Other Ranks being killed or wounded. The Turkish positions in the ” Redoubt ” were captured but with decreasing numbers of defenders and ammunition running low the position had to be relinquished in the face of overwhelming Turkish counter attacks. He had enlisted in December 1915. The photograph shows the Borderers in Palestine in 1917.