Lance Corporal William Aitchison

Lance Corporal William Aitchison, 1st/4th ( Territorial ) Battalion ( Queens Edinburgh Rifles ), Royal Scots. He was killed in action at Gallipoli on 28th June 1915, aged 26. He had been born in St. Boswells and was the son of George and Mary Aitchison of  Bowden, St. Boswells and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey. He had enlisted in Edinburgh and lived in St. Boswells. He fell in the fighting at Krithia near Gully Ravine where the Battalion took the Turkish trenches which were their objectives  but at terrible cost. 11 Officers ( including C.O. Lieutenant Colonel Dunn )  and 204 Other Ranks were killed and 6 Officers and 141 Other Ranks wounded. ( The C.W.G.C. site has his Unit as the 1st/5th, Battalion, Royal Scots as does “Soldiers Died” so it is probable he had been transferred from the 4th Battalion.)