Private John Millar

Private John Millar, 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. He was killed in action in France, aged 19, on the 12th October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He had been born in Glasgow and was the son of the late Robert and Jessie Millar. Before enlisting he had been living with his sister at Ettrickhaugh, Selkirk and was employed at Yarrow Mill in Selkirk. Originally he was posted to the 10th/11th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry but transferred to the R.S.F. in France. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France. On 12th October the Battalion was in action in the Flers sector of the Somme but no ground was gained with 9 Officer and 261 Other Rank casualties. ( His brother Thomas also fell- see below ). The photographs show Scottish troops on the Somme with the colour image showing a peaceful Somme landscape today with ” no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.