Lance Corporal Charles Reid

Lance Corporal Charles Reid, 2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in France on 25th September 1916, aged 21, during the Battle of the Somme and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. He fell in the successful attack on the German positions in the village of Morval where nearly 700 prisoners were taken. 3 Officers were killed and 2 wounded whilst Other Rank casualties were 165 of which 41 were fatal. He had been born in Galashiels and had enlisted in Jedburgh in August 1914.  Originally he had been in the 8th K.O.S.B. and then 7th/8th K.O.S.B. before transferring to the 2nd Battalion in 1916. He was the son of Helen Reid of Sunlawshill, Roxburgh and the stepson of Peter Rodden and before enlisting he had been employed as a farm servant at Sunlaws, Roxburgh.  His brother Peter also fell – see above ). By Autumn the rains and the incessant shelling had turned the chalky soil of the Region into a glutinous quagmire which made any kind of movement very difficult as can be seen from the photographs. The colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.

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