Private Andrew McDougal, 1st Battalion, Scots Guards. He died from wounds in the 47th Casualty Clearing station in Belgium, aged 34, on the 11th October 1917. He had been born in Melrose and was the son of Thomas and the late Helen McDougal of Sharplaw, Jedburgh. Before enlisting in late 1915 he had been employed as a shepherd at Oxnam Neuk Farm near Jedburgh. He was wounded in the attack on 9th October south of the Houthulst Forest during the Battle of Third Ypres. The day’s objectives were taken but with the usual casualty toll. 1 Officer and 31 Other Ranks were killed and 3 Officers and 141 Other Ranks were wounded with a further 2 posted missing. He is buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium. The photos try to show the atrocious state of the battlefield where the incessant shelling had destroyed the fragile Flanders drainage systems.
