Corporal John Rae

Corporal John Scott Rae, 1st/4th ( Border ) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. he was killed in action, aged 38, at Gallipoli on the 12th July 1915 during the ” Charge ” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah. He had been born in Glasgow in 1877 and was the son nof the late Alexander Rae and Catherine Rae of 23 Dunsdale Road, Selkirk. He had been employed as a woollen warper when he re-enlisted in the Territorials August 1914. Previously he had served with the Militia and then the Territorials and was made up to Corporal in March 1915. 12th July became known as the ” Black Day of the Borders” as out of over 700 Officers and Other Ranks who had begun the attack only 70 unwounded Men answered evening roll call. Few Border towns and villages had not lost at least one of their sons that fateful day. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey. The first photo shows Achi Baba, the objective of the attack and the second shows the Borderers going ” over the top” at Gallipoli and the third shows the battlefield in 1922.