Donald Callander

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On graduation from Sandhurst in 1939

Major Donald Fraser Callander OBE MC & Bar (22 July 1918 - 5 April 1992) was one of the last serving officers to lead his men into battle wearing the kilt.

Commissioned into the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders he was sent to France in 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 two pounder Hotchkiss guns, they knocked out 21 German tanks, while protecting the retreat of the allies to the beaches during the Battle of Dunkirk. This battle was the last time a Highland Battalion fought in the kilt.

He subsequently served with No. One Commando on special duties and in India as OC A Company, before he joined the 51st Highland Division in Possy area in August 1944, for the break-out from the Normandy bridgehead. In command of B Company he won his second Military and in the Battle of the Reichswald, Feb ’45 as; " the first to reach the enemy position with a handful of men.".

He subsequently fought in Korea and Aden before returning to command the Regimental Depot at Cameron Barracks in Inverness from 1957 to 1959. After retiring from the army he became Public Relations and Appeals Director of The Scottish Institution for War Blinded 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