Gunner John Beattie

Gunner John Beattie, 495th Battery, 77th Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery. He died on Active Service, aged 27, on the 5th December 1940. He had been born in Selkirk in 1913 and was the son of Robert and Helen Beattie of Kirk Wynd, Selkirk. Before enlisting he had been employed as a baker’s vanman in the Melrose Area. He was serving with his Unit in Swansea when he fell ill and died in Hospital in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. He is buried in Selkirk Cemetery where his headstone is inscribed ” Not Lost, But Gone Before”.