Private John Dodds

Private John Dodds (possibly) 1st Battalion, Black Watch. He was killed in action in France, aged 38, on the 3rd September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He had been born in Yarrow and was the son of James and the late Agnes Dodds of Yarrow and Leith. He fell in an attack on the infamous High Wood which failed partly though trench mortar shells falling short and caused heavy casualties. 5 Officers and 37 Other Ranks were killed and 137 wounded. In addition 36 Other Ranks were posted missing. The photos show Scots troops on the Somme with the colour image showing a peaceful Somme landscape today with “no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.