Corporal James Oag

Corporal James Oag, 2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in Belgium on 4th October 1917, aged 29, during the Battle of Third Ypres. He was the son of James and Margaret Oag of 14 Livingstone Place, Edinburgh and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He had been born in Thurso and had lived and enlisted in Berwick. He fell in the attack on Polderhoek Chateau. The attack in dreadful conditions was only partially successful and the Battalion had to fight off several German counter attacks. Casualties as ever in this type of fighting were very severe and the Battalion lost 11 Officers and 438 Other Ranks in killed,  wounded and missing. It was here that Captain Machin from Coldstream won his M.C. for his daring reconnaissances and rallying his men on the flanks during the counter attacks. The photographs give an idea of the atrocious conditions of the Battlefield. The heavy artillery barrages had destroyed the fragile Flanders drainage systems and heavy rain compounded the problems.