Second Lieutenant Robert High

Second Lieutenant Robert Donald High, 1st/4th ( Territorial, City of Aberdeen) Battalion, Gordon Highlanders. He was killed in action in France , aged 37, on 22nd March 1918 on the second day of the German Spring Offensives. He had been born in Monymusk, Aberdeenshire and was the husband of Mary Carmichael High of Ladykirk Schoolhouse, Ladykirk, Berwickshire and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Arras, France. Before enlisting in early 1916 he had been the Headmaster of Ladykirk Public School. He was commissioned in March 1917 and joined his Battalion in France in January 1918. On 22nd March the Battalion was positioned on the northern flank of the attack and on the 22nd held off strong German attacks until being outflanked and forced to retire to more defensible positions. The photograph shows the Memorial raised to commemorate the 51st ( Highland ) Division of which the Battalion formed part until 1915. It was erected in Newfoundland Park on the Somme overlooking “Y” Ravine which was taken when the Division stormed and captured the German positions in Beaumont Hamel. A plaque in Gaelic on the Memorial reads ” Friends Are Good On The Day Of Battle “. The photographs show Allied troops preparing to resist the German advances