John Marshall

Killed in Action on the 24/10/1918 leading his men at the Battle of the Selle (part of the Final Advance in Picardy)

John is listed as 4th BATTALION by the CWGC GRAVE REGISTRATION (1) but 1/7TH (SERVICE) BATTALION on the COATBRIDGE MEMORIAL, THE CWGC GRAVE REGISTRATION (2) and the FAMILY PLOT. John was Killed in Action whilst leading an attack on the 24/10/1918 at the Battle of the Selle, 17th - 25th October 1918. This was part of the Final Advance in Picardy, 17th October - 11th November 1918 : The hardest-fought of the final offensive actions. First, Third and Fourth Armies exploited their success in breaking the Hindenburg Line by pushing on across the Rivers Selle and Sambre, recapturing Valenciennes and finally in liberating Mons, where it had all begun for the British Expeditionary Force more than four years before. John joined his Battalion on the 12/12/1916 and was hospitalised and returned to the UK on the 13/03/1918. He re-joined his Battalion on the 28/04/1918. The 1/7th were part of the 153rd Brigade, 51st (Highland) Division. When John resided in Coatbridge he was the organist in the Graham St. United Free Church and latterly in the Buchanan St. United Free Church and as organist and choirmaster at Uddingston and St. Clements when he moved to Dundee. See Newspaper clippings for a letter sent to John's father by Major R Kerr. Of the 69 named men in Thiant Communal Cemetery 34 are Black Watch. John is also remembered in the St. Augustine's Parish (book) Roll of Honour. See photos for John's Newspaper clipping, his name on the Family Plot in Old Monkland Cemetery, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, his Service Medal and Award Rolls and the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) Cap Badge.