Private James Kyle

Private James Hay Kyle, 2nd Battalion, Black Watch. He died on Service, aged 25, on the 1st November 1918 and is buried in Beirut War Cemetery, Lebanon where his Headstone is inscribed ” He Fell In The Fight For Freedom and Right. Thy Will be Done”. He had been born in Ednam, Roxburgshire and was the son of James and Mary Kyle of 199 Galapark, Road, Galashiels. He had been working as a butcher in Galashiels when in September 1914 he enlisted in the 5th Reserve Cavalry Regiment (the Scots Greys). He then transferred to the Black Watch and joined the 8th Battalion in France in July 1915. He was gassed during the Battle of Loos and upon recovery he joined the 2nd Battalion in Mesopotamia and was present at the capture of Baghdad before serving in Egypt and Palestine. He contracted malaria and died in the 32nd Combined Clearing Hospital in Beirut.