Lieutenant Allan Ker VC

Lieutenant Ker of the 3rd Battalion Gordon Highlanders was attached to the 61st Battalion Machine Gun Corps. On 21st March 1918 near St Quentin, the Germans had penetrated the British line, but Ker, with one Vickers machine-gun, succeeded in holding off the attack, inflicting many casualties. Several of his men were badly wounded, and fierce fighting ensued when the Vickers was destroyed. They were attacked with bayonets, and Ker and his sergeant defended the section with revolvers. They were all suffering from lack of food, the effects of poison gas and exhaustion but Ker carried on until ammunition ran out and the position was overrun, at which point the section had to surrender.
Allan Ebenezer Ker was born in Edinburgh on 5th march 1883. He reached the rank of major and lived to the age of 75 dying in London on 12th Sep 1958. The photo shows him as a 2nd Lieutenant in service dress with a khaki apron to protect his kilt. There is a pocket on the apron where the sporran normally sits.

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