Lt-Col A C C Brodie, DSO, OBE, MC

THE Black Watch has recently lost a depressingly large number of gallant wartime officers, the latest being Alec Brodie who was certainly the most colourful and best known. He was a legend in the regiment and anyone who knew him would have some hilarious story about him.

He was born in London in 1912 - the son of a city merchant. He was educated at Stowe and, while a boy, contracted polio which left his face with a rather crooked appearance. He was commissioned into the Black Watch in 1932 and was on operations in Palestine at the outbreak of war in 1939.

The first part of his war was rather peripatetic. He learned Serbo-Croat in Belgrade and served as military attache in Athens and Sofia. He had spells in the second battalion and in the Middle East Commando. On his own admission he was frequently moved on as no-one could quite handle his unorthodox behaviour. He described his various sackings as ``catching the 11 o'clock train''.

He joined the 5th Battalion in Normandy and won the MC at Colombelles. He stoically stuck to his position to allow the rest of the battalion to withdraw. Although badly wounded he remained with his men to recover an anti-tank gun.

Some six months later he won the DSO at Goch near the Rhine. On this occasion he led his company in a series of daring attacks which bordered on suicidal. However, despite being severely wounded many times he took the position and was able to hold it against determined counter-attacks.

It was this reckless bravery that made commanders wary of putting him in command of soldiers. However, the Jocks adored him and he could remember the name and family background of all those who served under him. As a result of his boyhood polio and war wounds he cut rather a grotesque figure and his high-pitched voice and eccentric mannerisms were frequently mimicked.

One frequently told and suitable exaggerated story concerns his activities in the town of Gennep. It was cold and wet and there was intermittent enemy fire coming down the street when Alec appeared round the corner under an umbrella. When questioned about the umbrella he pointed out that it was raining. He led that sort of charmed life.

After the war he was military attache in Seoul, Laos, and Beirut. It came as no surprise that war broke out in each place just after the arrival of Alec. Nevertheless, he was awarded the OBE for his work in Beirut. After retirement he was commandant of Barry Buddon Training Camp for 17 years.

Alec was a kind and caring person and was always willing to help the young and inexperienced. He cared little for rules or orthodoxy. No more so than in the way he dressed. In uniform he never conformed to the accepted forms of dress and made up his attire, I suspect, as it came to hand.

He laughed at himself and we did so with him because he was a larger-than-life funny man. Such characters are not in the Army now and the Army is poorer for it.

n Appreciation by Colonel Robert Gurdon, regimental secretary, the Black Watch.