Lance Sergeant James Moyes

Lance Sergeant James Moyes, 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots. He was killed in action in Belgium, aged 21, on the 26th September 1917 during the Battle of Third Ypres. He had been born in Jedburgh and was the son of James and Isabella Moyes of Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. ( His brother Adam also fell – see above ). He had been employed as a grocer in Edinburgh when he enlisted in November 1915, joining his Battalion in France in May 1916. He was promoted Lance Sergeant two days before he was killed and he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He fell in the attack near Hill 70 where the attack became mixed up with a German counter attack with resulting heavy casualties on both sides. 4 Officers and 45 Other Ranks were killed and 6 Officers and 278 Other Ranks were wounded. In addition 66 Other Ranks were posted missing. The photos show the atrocious state of the battlegound where the incessant shelling had destroyed the fragile Flanders drainage system.