Bannockburn man first into Baghdad

Arguments had been raging about which regiment was the first into Baghdad following its capture by British forces in the spring of 1917.

It was eventually acknowledged that the accolade went to the Black Watch.

And there was, said the Observer, mounting evidence that the honour of being the first man from the regiment to infiltrate the “celebrated city of the Arabian Nights” was Bannockburn man L/Cpl J Kelso.

Evidence came in a letter to his mother from a Capt AA Martin, Royal Army Medical Corp.

He had been in charge of a convoy of boats which transported L/Cpl Kelso and other soldiers from Baghdad to Amara after the Bannockburn man suffered slight wounds to the neck and shoulders.

Capt Martin said there were many Black Watch on the convoy and they were “the jolliest I have had to deal with”.

“All his pals said your son was the first to enter Baghdad,” Capt Martin told L/Cpl Kelso’s mother.

“Having such a prominent man as that on board I had to take a snapshot of him with my camera.

“Thinking that you would be pleased to know how he looked at the time, I am sending you the picture.”