b. 21/06/1888 Norham on Tweed, Durham. d. 11/12/1917 Egypt.
DATE OF AM ACTION: 26/07/1917 Egypt.
Andrew B McCreath AM
Andrew was the 5th son of Henry Gourlay and Agnes McCreath (nee Miller). His father was a grain and manure merchant, and his mother was the daughter of Reverend James Aitchison Miller of Berwick upon Tweed. Andrew was educated at Berwick Grammar School before working at the Ponteland Branch of Barclays Bank. He was gazetted as a 2nd Lieutenant on 18th May 1915 and promoted to Lieutenant on 1st July 1917. He served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force from January 1917, until his death in Nasrieh School Hospital in Cairo, following an action on 29th November 1917.
AM CITATION:
On 26th July, 1917, during an inspection of grenades, one of the grenades fell on the ground and detonated, and Lieutenant McCreath, hearing warning shouts, ran up and picked up the bomb. In order to get rid of it without endangering others, he had to run until he found .an empty dug-out into which to throw it. As he was about to throw it away the detonator exploded; fortunately, the ammunition was wet (although Lieutenant McCreath did not know this), and no further explosion took place, or he would almost certainly have been killed or severely injured.
BURIAL LOCATION: CAIRO WAR CEMETERY, CAIRO, EGYPT.
PLOT O, GRAVE 62.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: KING’S OWN SCOTTISH BORDERERS MUSEUM, BERWICK ON TWEED.
