Alexander John Monro known to us all as Alastair because he preferred the Gaelic form of Alexander. He died on 01 September, just nine days short of his 100th birthday.
Alastair was born in New Zealand, where his father was a shepherd in a remote area of the North Island. He nearly died twice as a child; first of diphtheria contracted as a baby and then at the age of three when he caught scarlet fever on a ship to Scotland in 1919.
In 1932, he began work with the Forestry Commission then, hoping to travel, he enlisted in the Royal Artillery by adding a year to his age. In 1937, soon after being posted to India, he was sent to join the Waziristan campaign on the north-west frontier. Then WWII started and, by 1941, he had been promoted to sergeant major/ gunnery instructor.
In 1944, he was promoted to captain and trained in jungle warfare before being told to take the regiment’s vehicles by road to Burma. He remembered it as a wonderful trip travelling 2,000 miles across India to Calcutta, Assam and on to Nagaland.
In Burma, he was told that he had been promoted to major and was given command of the battery. On 21 March 1945, the day after British troops had liberated Mandalay, whilst clearing Japanese soldiers from nearby villages, he was shot in the arm, suffering a life-threatening injury.
He was flown to nearby Meiktila, patched up and transferred to Bangladesh. From there he was flown to Calcutta through a fierce thunderstorm before being moved to Secunderabad, where he underwent major surgery. He was then moved to another hospital in Poona and then on to Bombay for a hospital ship home, but not before he had suffered his third bout of dengue fever. Back in Scotland, amputation was advised but before the operation, he agreed to donate to a skin bank and large swathes of skin were taken from his thighs to help a burned child.
His arm was amputated in the Summer of 1946, and on 21 March 1947, exactly two years after being wounded, he was discharged from the Army and declared permanently unfit for military service. Despite that ruling, and the loss of sight in one eye, he joined the TA in 1952 and was awarded the MBE in 1961.
In 1947, he married Molly, one of the nurses who had cared for him at Larbert Base Hospital. In 1952, they moved to Blair Atholl when Alastair started work for the Atholl Estates. He worked for the Estate for more than 30 years before retiring in 1982.
In 1966, he gave The Duke of Atholl help and advice over the re-formation of the Atholl Highlanders; the only private Army in UK. In his 92nd year, after Molly had died, he moved to a small cottage in Bridge of Tilt, selling off his surplus furniture and donating the proceeds to Blesma.
He was a keen gardener but his real joy was target rifle shooting. In 1953, he joined the Small-bore Rifle Club and West Atholl Rifle Club, and was on the committee of the latter for 63 years – 33 of them as chairman. Even with only one arm and one eye, he was a very good shot, and represented Scotland at Bisley. He organised many successful competitions and encouraged many young people to take up shooting.
When the original rifle range at Blair Atholl had to close, he put a huge amount of work into developing and maintaining a new, longer range on the Atholl Estate. It is the longest rifle range in UK and now, mainly thanks to his efforts, it has electronic targets. The construction, development and maintenance of the Jubilee Range was his ‘delight’ and it forms a fitting legacy to his dedication to the sport and the contribution he made to the local area over his long life.
He was always stoical, modest and selfeffacing, and will be sorely missed by his wide circle of friends and admirers. Our condolences go to his son John, and his children and grandchildren.