Lance Corporal Donald Cruickshank

Lance Corporal Donald Gordon Cruickshank, 16th Battalion ( 2nd Glasgow) Highland Light Infantry. He was killed in action in Belgium on 2nd December 1917 aged 39 and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He was the son of Donald and Margaret Cruickshank of Darnick, Melrose and the husband of Agnes. He had originally enlisted in the K.O.S.B but had been transferred. Before enlisting he had been employed as a Gamekeeper at Sunderland Hall, Selkirk. ( His brother John also fell ). The Battalion was a “Pals” Unit originally formed from members and former members of the Boys Brigade. The photos show the condition of the Flanders battlefield after the incessant shelling had destroyed the fragile drainage systems.