THE COVENANTER
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sir
It is with very great sadness that we hear The Cameronians returned to Malaya in
of your decision to have a final formal 1951 when we saw more of you and met
gathering of the Regiment on the 10th and your new Colonel, General O’Connor of
11 May 2008. Cyrenaica fame. Field Marshal Slim (Our
Colonel) was especially pleased with the
We in the 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own affiliation as he had commanded the Corps
Gurkha Rifles Regimental Association look in which both Regiments served during the
back with great pride on our affiliation with retreat from Burma.
you .
We wish you all the very best of luck and
It was 1949 and we had just been rescued health for the future, and while memory
from being a Gunner Regiment when we serves will always remember you and be
received the momentous telegram from grateful for all the help you gave us.
your then Colonel, General Riddell -Webster
agreeing to the affiliation. Our association Jai Cameronians
in fact dates back to the 1920s when both With very best wishes,
Regiments served side by side in Quetta. Lt Col Keith Robinson
However the real bond was formed in Hon Secretary and Treasurer
1942 when your 1st Bn commanded by Lt 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkha
Col Thomas formed part of 7th Armoured Rifles
Brigade behind whose shield our battered Surgeon Anthony Home VC
remnants of the 1st and 3rd Bns 7GR
reformed after the fateful Sittang crossing in Sir,
Burma. Later Brigadier Collingwood of the Robin Buchanan-Dunlop writes generously
Cameronians was 63 Brigade Commander about my article, The Bravest of the Brave,
in Malaya in which 7 GR was serving, when and we are all indebted to him for the new
the announcement of the Affiliation was and interesting link which he uncovers
made: He was a very good friend to the between his own family and that of Surgeon
Regiment . Anthony Home VC. He hopes that I will
not take amiss a quibble which he has over
Later in 1949, your 1st Bn passed through the suggestion that Home and his assistant,
Singapore en route to Hong Kong. A small Assistant Surgeon William Bradshaw VC,
party of both 7GR Bns drove down to the were never commissioned into the regiment
docks where our pipers played the ship in. and were never ‘cap-badged’. I in turn
A simple but impressive ceremony was hope that he will not take amiss my quibble
held on the quay attended by Brigadier about his views (Letters to the Editor, The
Collingwood. 7GR presented a silver Kukri Covenanter 2007 – page 36).
to the Cameronians to mark this historic
affiliation and then you presented us with a My source for all of the information in
silver salver in return . my article was the library of the Imperial
War Museum and the two principal books
consulted there were The Victoria Cross
and Distinguished Service Order (Volume
I, VC’s) and The Register of the Victoria
Cross (© This England 1988). Both of the
surgeons were listed there as being of the
90th Perthshire Light Infantry. There was
no mention of Army Medical Services (or
any variation of that name). I also cited Lt
Col Evelyn Wood VC’s comment that Home
was ‘…a former brother officer in the 90th
Light Infantry (2nd Scottish Rifles) …’
96
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109