Queens South Africa Medal clasps Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen (1742 CORPL. J. REID. SCOTS GDS.); Kings South Africa Medal clasps South Africa 1901 & 1902 (1742 CORPL. J. REID. SCOTS GUARDS.); 1914-15 Star (11125 L.SJT. J. REID.S.GDS.); British War Medal (11125 CPL. J. REID. S.GDS.); Victory Medal (11125 CPL. J. REID. S.GDS.)
John Reid was born in Egham Surrey in 1879. He served with the Scots Guards in the Anglo Boer War with no. 11125 and was present at operations in the Cape Colony, Transvaal and Wittebergen - the region to the east of the Orange Free State where, in July 1900, General Prinsloo was obliged to surrender with over 4000 men thereby seriously denting the Boers ability to carry on the war.
Retaining his number, Reid then enlisted with the same regiment in September 1914 for service in WWI. Having arrived in France on 14. January 1915 he was taken Prisoner of War at Givenchy less than two weeks later, on 25 January 1915. He was interred in Giessen, Germany and was sent to Holland in March 1918 before being repatriated to England on 18.11.1918
The battle at Givenchy was described in contemporary accounts. "Beginning in the early afternoon, British officers rallied troops from two regiments - the famous Coldstream and Scots Guards, along with reinforcements from the London Scottish regiment. They finally halted the onrushing Germans with blistering massed rifle and machine gun fire. the British forces then attempted to to regain the momentum with a counterattack of their own, but found the table turned as they ran into a wall of fire from the Germans, now entrenched The battalion suffered 240 All Ranks casualties."
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