Today is the centenary of the death of two Orcadian soldiers in the country then called Mesopotamia, now Iraq.  William Dass of South Ronaldsay and Peter Fotheringhame of Sanday were serving in 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders.  On 22nd February 1917 the Seaforths attacked the Turkish position at Sannaiyat on the north bank of the River Tigris, as a diversion to the main attack to capture the town of Kut.  William Dass and Peter Fotheringhame died in hard fighting to capture three lines of Turkish trenches.  The story of William Dass which George Esson included in his 2001 book For Freedom & Honour can be downloaded as a pdf using the link below.