Private Peter Johnston

Private Peter Johnston, 12th (Service) Battalion, Royal Scots. He died from wounds in Belgium, aged 19, on the 25th September 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres. He had been born in Galashiels and was the son of Charles and Jessie Johnston of 65 Meigle Street, Galashiels. He died in the 44th Casualty clearing station at Poperinghe and is buried in Nine Elms British cemetery, Flanders, Belgium where his Headstone is inscribed ” He Sleeps Not In His Native Land Far From Those Who Loved Him Best”. The Battalion had been in action against some German pillboxes on the 20th September and had suffered 162 casualties in killed and wounded. The photos show troops in the Ypres sector during the Battle and the atrocious conditions on the battlefield where the incessant shelling had destroyed the fragile Flanders drainage system.