Sergeant Walter Redpath M.M.& Bar

Sergeant Walter Kerr Redpath, M.M. & Bar 1st Coy. Machine Gun Corps ( Infantry ). He was killed in action in France , aged 25, on 31st August 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He had been born in Walkerburn to the late Margaret and John Redpath of Darnick, Melrose and is buried in Flatiron Copse, Mametz, Somme France. He had been a Regular Soldier and as a machine gunner in the Cameron Highlanders and had been transferred to the newly formed M.G.C. in January 1916. ( There is no trace of a second M.M being awarded, neither in the C.W.G.C. site nor in the Official Register of Military Medal winners ). The M.G.C. used the Vickers Ml1 water cooled gun in both defensive and offensive roles. The photograph shows machine gunners on the Somme and the colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barbed wire no guns firing now”.