Second Lieutenant George Gordon Carmichael

Second Lieutenant George Gordon Carmichael ,1st/5th Battalion ,Kings Own Scottish Borderers recently attached from 1st/4th Battalion, K.O.S.B.. He was killed in action  in France, aged 22, on 1st August 1918 ( Minden Day ) during the successful attack on the German positions in the village of Beugneux. Battalion casualties that day were 2 Officers and 25 Other Ranks killed, 24 missing and 112 wounded.  He had been born in Spittal and was the son of Provost Robert Carmichael and Euphemia Carmichael of ” Rosybank”, Tweed Road, Coldstream. He was the brother of the above Archibald and was the second of Provost Carmichael’s sons to be killed. He is buried in Raperie British Cemetery, Villemontaine, France. His parents raised an impressive Celtic Memorial Cross In Lennel Kirkyard to their memory. He had been educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh and had  had enlisted in the Kings Royal Rifles in November 1915, saw service in France and returned home to obtain his commission  being gazetted to the K.O.S.B. After a period of training he was drafted to Palestine to join the 1st/4th Battalion. In April 1918 the Battalion, as part of the 52nd Lowland Division, was transferred to France to help stem the German Spring Offensive. ( The sketch of George which hangs in Coldstream Museum is shown by their kind permission). His headstone is inscribed ” Until the Day break”.