Private Peter Laing

Private Peter Laing, 15th ( 1st Edinburgh )Battalion, Royal Scots, He died of wounds on 6th July 1916  received during the Battle of the Somme, aged 28, He was the son of Mrs Jane Craig of 215 Guster Street, Leith and is buried in Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L-Abbe, Somme, France.  He was wounded in action in the attack on La Boiselle on the 1st July 1916 on the First Day of the Battle. ( For fuller details see under Private Robert Denholm). The photograph shows a shell bursting on the German trenches immediately before the attack and shows the complete lack of cover for the advancing troops. His Headstone is inscribed ” Until The Day Break “. The colour picture shows the peaceful Somme today ” with no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.