Private William Fish

Private William Fish, 6th ( Service ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in France, aged 31, on the 25th September 1915 on the first day of the Battle of Loos. He had been born in Maxton, Roxburghshire and was the son of Rodger and Mary Fish of 69 High Street, Jedburgh and the husband of Annie Fish. ( His father had been the School board Officer for Jedburgh ).He had served his apprenticeship as a skinner in Jedburgh and played rugby for both Jed Forest and Kelso. He fell in the attack towards “Mad Point” trench part of the Hoenzollern redoubt where heavy machine gun fire, gas, uncut wire and hidden obstacles caused the attack to fail with very heavy casualties. 11 Officers and 347 Other Ranks were killed or missing and 8 Officers and 272 Other Ranks were wounded. He is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, Dud Corner, Loos, France. The first photo shows an actual attack at Loos with the troops disappearing into a ghostly cloud of gas and smoke. The second shows  an artist’s nightmarish illustration of an attack at Loos with the men wearing their gas hoods and throwing primitive grenades.