Lance Corporal John Bell

Lance Corporal John Bell, 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. He was killed in action in Belgium on 26th September 1917, aged 29, during the Third Battle of Ypres. He had been born in Douglas, Cork, Ireland and was the son of the late Agnes Bell and John Bell of 92 Mill Street, Selkirk and 3 Duck Row, Jedburgh. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. The photographs show the atrocious conditions of the battlefield where the incessant shelling had destroyed the Flanders drainage systems. On the 26th September the Battalion took part in a general attack near Zonnebeke. With great heroism some ground was captured but at the cost of 8 Officers and 120 Other Ranks killed and 8 Officers and 317 Other Ranks wounded. This was the Battalions last action during the Battle.