Major General Logan Scott-Bowden, (21 February 1920 – 9 February 2014) was a British army officer. A

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

officer during World War II, he was the first commander of the

Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...

. Retiring as a major general in 1974, he served as the

colonel-commandant Colonel commandant is a military title used in the armed forces of some English-speaking countries. The title, not a substantive military rank, could denote a senior colonel with authority over fellow colonels. Today, the holder often has an honor ...

of the Royal Engineers from 1975 to 1980.

Early life

Scott-Bowden was born in

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

on 21 February 1920, the son of Lt.Col. Jonathan Scott-Bowden,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, TD, and Mary Scott-Bowden (née Logan). He was educated at

Malvern College Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

and the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

. He was commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 3 July 1939.

Military career

Scott-Bowden saw early service in Norway in 1940, before joining the

53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division The 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought in both the First and Second World Wars. Originally raised in 1908 as the Welsh Division, part of the Territorial Force (TF), the division saw servic ...

as an Adjutant in 1941. During 1942 and 1943 he served on liaison duty with Canadian and American forces. In mid 1943 Scott-Bowden joined

Combined Operations Pilotage Parties Combined Operations Headquarters was a department of the British War Office set up during Second World War to harass the Germans on the European continent by means of raids carried out by use of combined naval and army forces. History The comm ...

(COPP), the reconnaissance unit tasked with scouting the beaches for the

D Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

landings. Scott-Bowden and another COPPist, Sergeant Bruce Ogden-Smith, swam ashore in Normandy over thirty times to obtain sand samples to see whether the beach would support tanks. A trial landing at a Norfolk beach had proved that they would not be detected when they swam ashore at night from an LCT. At midnight on 31 December 1943, Scott-Bowden and Ogden-Smith, during Operation KJH, landed on

Gold Beach Gold, commonly known as Gold Beach, was the code name for one of the five areas of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of German military administration in occupied France during World War II, German-occupied France in the Normandy la ...

to take samples of the material from the beach. They swam ashore from a landing craft operated by 712th Landing Craft Personnel (Survey) Flotilla. They found that the sand, in places, was thin and supported by weak peat material. They took samples back to the United Kingdom that allowed planners to cope with the weaker-than-expected beaches. Scott-Bowden and Ogden-Smith returned to Normandy from 17–21 January 1944, this time operating from X20, an X-class midget submarine, during Operation Bellpush Able. They twice swam ashore onto sectors of

Omaha Beach Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing sectors of the amphibious assault component of Operation Overlord during the Second World War. On June 6, 1944, the Allies of World War II, Allies invaded German military administration in occupied Fra ...

. After returning to the UK, Scott-Bowden was summoned to a briefing with General

Omar Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (12 February 1893 – 8 April 1981) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He wa ...

. Scott-Bowden said to him ''"Sir, I hope you don’t mind me saying it, but this beach is a very formidable proposition indeed and there are bound to be tremendous casualties."'' Bradley put his hand on his shoulder and replied ''"I know, my boy. I know."'' On D Day both Sgt. Ogden-Smith and Maj. Scott-Bowden assisted in piloting the initial American landings on

. He then went on to command 17 Field Squadron for the remainder of the War. After World War II, he had operational service in Burma, Palestine, Korea, Aden and lastly in Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland he was given the challenging task of forming the Ulster Defence Regiment. His final appointment in the Armed Services, on promotion to Major General, was as Head of the British Defence Liaison Staff, India. After retirement from active service Scott-Bowden served as the Colonel-Commandant of the Royal Engineers from 1975 to 1980.

Personal life

In 1950 he married Helen Jocelyn, daughter of late

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Francis Caradoc Rose Price, 5th Bt, and late Marjorie Lady Price. They had three sons and three daughters.

Honours

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) 1 January 1972 *

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) 6 June 1964 *

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

15 June 1944 (Operation Bell Push Able, Normandy reconnaissance January 1944) *

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 ...

(MC) 2 March 1944 Operation KJH (Normandy reconnaissance December 1943 - January 1944) *

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

to the Military Cross (MC and Bar) 22 January 1946

Appointments

He held a number of appointments throughout his career including:

Ranks

References

External links

British Army Officers 1939−1945
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott-Bowden, Logan 1920 births 2014 deaths British Army major generals British Army personnel of the Korean War British Army personnel of World War II Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Military personnel from Cumbria Graduates of Joint Services Command and Staff College People educated at Malvern College People from Whitehaven Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Engineers officers Ulster Defence Regiment officers National Defence College, India alumni