Private Walter Melrose

Private Walter Melrose, 2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in Belgium on 4th October 1917, aged 34, during the Battle of Third Ypres. He was the brother of Mrs Margaret Scott of Lindenlea, St Boswells and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. Before enlisting he had been employed as a ploughman.He fell in the attack on the heavily fortified Polderhoek Chateau as part of the Battle of Broodseinde and where the Battalion suffered heavily. The ground was a quagmire and there was a very heavy German counter barrage. Losses were 11 Officers and 438 Other Ranks. Captain Stair Gillon who wrote the history of the K.O.S.B. during the War was extremely scathing about the Staff Work during this period. The state of the ground was atrocious as the incessant shelling had destroyed the Flanders drainage systems. The  photographs show shows the remains of Broodseinde and what the troops were expected to fight in.