Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Donald Fraser Callander

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

MC & Bar (22 July 1918 – 5 April 1992) was one of the last serving British Army officers to lead his men into battle wearing the kilt.

Early life and career

He was born in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

in Cheshire and educated at Clifton College in Bristol. This was followed by the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, and in January 1939 he was commissioned into the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, He was posted to his regiment's 1st Battalion, then commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Wimberley.

Military career

He was sent to France on 23 September 1939 as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). He received his first Military Cross as an "immediate award for courage and leadership" at La Bassée where, as commander of the battalion's anti-tank platoon, equipped only with three Hotchkiss guns Ordnance QF 2 pounders, they knocked out 21 German tanks from Rommel's 7th Panzer Division, while protecting the retreat of the allies to the beaches during the Battle of Dunkirk. He was evacuated with his platoon wearing their kilts on 1 June 1940. This battle was the last time a Highland Battalion fought in the kilt. He was subsequently sent in 1942 to serve with No. 1 Commando on special duties with OC A Company in India. As well as training for jungle warfare against the Japanese he was in-charge of the Company guarding Nehru at Ahmednagar Fort. In August 1944, he joined the 5th battalion of the Cameron Highlanders, a part of the

51st Highland Division The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as ...

under C.O Lt.Col. Derek Lang in Possy area for the break-out from the Normandy bridgehead. In command of B Company he won his second Military Cross in the

Battle of the Reichswald A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, Feb '45 as " the first to reach the enemy position with a handful of men". He also took part in the capture of Le Havre and the Rhine Crossing before leaving Germany in April 1945 In May 1945 he joined the army Staff College in Quetta India as GSO 2 at the Tactical School, where he served until 1947 when he became Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General (DAQMG) at the War Office in London. He returned to regimental duty in February 1950 as an instructor at the Highland Brigade Training Centre, becoming the Adjutant of HQ The Highland Brigade in 1951. He was Brigade Major of 152nd Highland Brigade in Inverness from 1952-55 serving at

Fort George Fort George may refer to: Forts Bermuda * Fort George, Bermuda, built in the late 18th Century and successively developed through the 19th Century, on a site that had been in use as a watch and signal station since 1612 British Virgin Islands * ...

before he joined the Commonwealth Division on the 38th Parallel in Korea.This was followed by "jungle bashing" in Malaya during the Emergency until the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

in 1956, when he was flown to

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

and saw action against dissident tribesmen in the Aden Protectorate and Yemen. In 1959 he became Deputy Assistant Adjutant General(DAAG) at HQ Scottish Command, and his final appointment was as GSO II (

General Staff Officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

) at the War Office. He resigned and took early retirement from the army in April 1963 following the earlier amalgamation of 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and 1st Battalion,

Seaforth Highlanders The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, mainly associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The regiment existed from 1881 to 1961, and saw servic ...

, which in turn followed on from the 1957 defence review.

Subsequent career and family

During his first posting in India in 1942 he met Margaret, daughter of

Andrew Geddis Andrew Geddis (July 1886 – 23 February 1976) was a leading businessman and sports enthusiast in Bombay in the decades leading up to independence. Biography He was Chairman of the Royal Western India Turf Club (1931–1939) and instigated Mumba ...

, who herself went on to serve in Burma and Japan with the

Women's Auxiliary Service (Burma) The Women's Auxiliary Service (Burma) (WAS(B)) also known as ''the Chinthe Women'' because of the mythological creature that formed their badge. The unit was formed on 16 January 1942 and disbanded in 1946. They were a 250 strong group of British ...

, known as the WASBs. They were ultimately married in London in 1948 and had two sons, Andrew in 1949 and Robin in 1952. After retiring from the army he became Public Relations and Appeals Director of The Scottish Institution for War Blinded in Edinburgh and in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 1985, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his long and successful work in this field. In 1967 he became a member of the Sovereign's Bodyguard for Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers. He was a keen shot and ran a shoot in the Scottish Borders with General Sir Philip Christison. He was also a member of the

Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers ''The Honourable'' ( British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certa ...

. He played regularly at Muirfield where he died suddenly in the middle of a game aged 73 in 1992.Obituary in Scotsman newspaper 15th April 1992

Grave

He is buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

in Edinburgh.The granite stone stands on the east–west path through the cemetery close to the war memorial for the Cameron Highlanders.

References

Sources