Denis Sheldon McGregor Eadie MC (12 February 1917 – 28 March 2015) was a British Army officer of the Second World War who was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

by Field Marshal

Lord Wavell Field Marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World Wa ...

for his conduct during the relief of

Kohima Kohima (; Tenyidie: Kewhira ()) is the capital of the North East Indian state of Nagaland. With a resident population of almost 100,000, it is the second largest city in the state. Kohima constitutes both a district and a municipality. The m ...

.Major Denis Eadie - obituary.
''The Telegraph'', 10 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.Obituary: Denis Sheldon McGregor Eadie MC.
Alison Shaw, ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'', 29 April 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.

Early life

Eadie was born on 12 February 1917

Bridge of Weir Bridge of Weir is a village within the Renfrewshire council areas of Scotland, council area and wider counties of Scotland, historic county of Renfrewshire (historic), Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying within the Gryf ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He was the great-grandson of Peter Eadie, who founded the family firm, Eadie Bros & Co. Ltd. The company specialised in the manufacture of ring travellers for the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

. Educated in Scotland he then followed his older brother Russell to St Piran's prep school in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

and Oundle School in

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. For university Eadie went up to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. There he studied mechanical sciences and won a rowing

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

stroking the Cambridge crew during the 1938 University Boat Race.

Military service

With Britain's declaration of war on

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

on 3 September 1939 Eadie was commissioned into 506 Field Company Royal Engineers, within the Scottish Lowland Division. Eadie attended the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

, where he trained as a motor contact officer. Upon graduating he was posted to Sixth Brigade HQ and sailed for France in April 1940 to join the British Expeditionary Force. His sailing came the day after his proposal of marriage to Isobel Woodsend. During the

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

Eadie was

Mentioned in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

before being evacuated from Dunkirk. He remained on service in the UK until 1942 and his deployment to

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

. While on home service Eadie married Woodsend at

Paisley Abbey Paisley Abbey is a parish church of the Church of Scotland on the east bank of the River Cart, White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, about west of Glasgow, in Scotland. Its origins date from the 12th century, base ...

in December 1940. In Burma, Eadie participated in the 1942 Arakan Campaign and was training on the west coast of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

when he was sent to participate in the

Battle of Kohima The Battle of Kohima was the turning point of the Imperial Japan, Japanese Operation U-Go, U-Go offensive into British Raj, India in 1944 during the World War II, Second World War. The battle took place in three stages from 4 April to 22 June 19 ...

. On 2 May 1944 Eadie and his men were ordered to take a six-pounder anti-tank gun up to the

garrison. Manhandling the gun past the Japanese, they then pulled it up to a 90 ft ramp. During the operation at the ramp, hauling the gun using a wire cable, one soldier was killed and another wounded. The troop sergeant was injured when he was run over by the gun. Eadie carried the casualties up the ramp, getting them under cover. For his bravery during the battle Eadie was awarded the Military Cross, presented in the field. The citation read: "Captain Eadie throughout the whole of the operation displayed a high standard of leadership and organising ability while under fire. The success of the operation was entirely due to his example and his rapid appreciation of the situation." Eadie was made a temporary major and given command after the death of his commanding officer. He saw further service in the Far East with the liberation of

Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. It is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631 km (392 mi) north of Yangon. In 2014, the city had a population of 1,225,553. Mandalay was founded in 1857 by Ki ...

and

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

, arriving on

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

. Six years to the day after his 3 September 1939 enlistment, he was stationed at

Mingaladon Airport Yangon International Airport ( ) is the primary and busiest international airport of Myanmar. The airport is located in Mingaladon township, north of central Yangon. Many domestic Myanmar carriers and international airlines operate at Yangon ...

. He was assigned to a

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

flight which returned with the first British

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. He returned to the UK two months later but was not released from service until December 1947. Eadie remained on the Territorial Army Reserve Officers List. He was removed from the list on 12 February 1967, upon reaching the upper age limit. He was awarded the honorary rank of major.

Later life

After completing his military service, Eadie returned to the family firm in Scotland. He worked there until he retired on his 65th birthday in 1982. He maintained a keen interest in sport. He coached underprivileged boys in

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

, and was a

Royal and Ancient Golf Club The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. It is a private members-only club based in St Andrews in Scotland. It was previously known colloquially as "The R&A", but in 2004, a new organisation kn ...

member,

Prestwick Golf Club Prestwick Golf Club is a golf course in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is approximately southwest of Scotland's largest city, Glasgow. Prestwick is a classic links course, built on the rolling sandy land between the beach and the hi ...

captain and Leander Rowing Club member. He also enjoyed fishing and shooting. Eadie served as chairman of

ISO Standards The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

committees relating to textiles, the West of Scotland TSB (in addition to being a member of the bank's board), as a Paisley Hammerman Deacon, and as a

Grocer's Company The Worshipful Company of Grocers is one of the 111 livery companies of the City of London, ranking second in order of precedence. Established in 1345 for merchants engaged in the grocery trade, it is one of the Great Twelve City Livery Compani ...

member. Eadie also carried out volunteer work and supported charities. These included the Paisley & Glasgow Society, Paisley's Accord Hospice,

and St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh. He was widowed in 1983 with the passing of his wife Isobel. In 1991 he married again, to Gillian Apold (née Maclean). She survived him, along with two sons, two daughters, a stepson and a stepdaughter.

References

External links

Pathè - Meet the Cambridge Crew (1938)

Imdb - Denis Eadie

IWM - Wavell's Tour, Visit to Imphal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eadie, Denis 1917 births 2015 deaths Military personnel from Renfrewshire Royal Engineers officers British Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Military Cross Cambridge University Boat Club rowers People educated at Oundle School