Private Andrew Craighead

Private Andrew Craighead, 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. He was killed in action in Belgium, aged 24, on the 26th September 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres. He had been born in Galashiels and was the son of Andrew and Margaret Craighead of Scott Street, Galashiels. He had been employed in the printing office of Craighead Brothers of Ladhope Vale when he enlisted in the Royal Scots before being transferred to the R.S.F. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He fell in the attack on Zonnebeke where they were faced with an impassable swamp and lost the protection of their artillery. The attack stalled in the face of heavy machine gun fire but the Battalion repulsed a German counter attack and consolidated the ground won. Casualties as ever were heavy with 8 Officers and 53 Other Ranks were killed and 8 Officers and 317 Other Ranks were wounded. In addition 67 Other Ranks were posted missing. The photos try to show the appalling conditions endured by the troops where the incessant shelling had destroyed the fragile Flanders drainage system.