Private John Palmer

Private John Thomas Palmer, 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He was killed in action in France on 15th July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and is buried in Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz, Somme, France. The Battalion was part of the 33rd Division and he fell in the successful capture of Bazentin Ridge which cost the Division nearly 1200 casualties. He had been a regular soldier who had been born in Wooler, lived in Berwick and had enlisted at Glencorse. The first photographs show Scots troops on the Somme and the artist’s illustration depicts the Highlanders going into battle at Bazentin led by their piper.