Page 123 - RSDG Year of 2021 CREST

OBITUARIES
It is with regret that we record the deaths of former Officers and Members. They will all be missed and to their families, we hope that these few words will provide a lasting remembrance.
Officers
Major A J Crease MBE BEM Lieutenant Colonel A M Sprot M D Brunton Esq
Captain G M Walker OBE
W G Fearnley-Whittingstall Esq
J D Howard Esq
Captain A A C Farquharson of Invercauld MC
Captain T R Spenlove-Brown Captain J W S McGhie
Aberdeen and North of Scotland
Mr J A B Fraser
Edinburgh and East of Scotland
Mr A Beagrie
Mr I Moncur
Mr J T C Campbell MSM Mr J P Hunter
Glasgow and West of Scotland
Mr H Paterson Mr J D Paton
Lieutenant Colonel Aidan Sprot MC
Lieutenant Colonel Aidan Sprot was a much admired, loved and revered member of the Regiment who was always interested in the Regiment and those who served in it right up until the time he died on 28 January aged 101 .
The son of Mark and Meliora
Sprot, his father had been a soldier and it had always been Aidan’s ambition to follow in his footsteps but he was forbidden to do so on leav- ing Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. As a result, he initially worked in banking until volunteering on the
outbreak of the war in 1939.
He was commissioned into the Royal Scots Greys, joined the regiment in 1941 where he trained on horse- back in Palestine. He then spent 1942 and much of the following year in the Western Desert. He then landed
North West of England and Wales
Mr T E Jones
Mr E E Shaw
Mr A Clayton Mr R Pritchard Mr P Bloor
Mr A Shaw
Mr R Clark
Mr A D Jones Mr K A Purviss
North East of England
Mr A N Dobson Mr A W Entwistle
London and South East of England
Mr H Kendrick
Mr H P Barnes
South West of England
Mr I Scaife
Mr P C Watson Mr A Corson Mr A Shields Mr A Freer
Musicians, Pipes and Drums HQ
Mr T P Downey
No Branch Affiliation
Mr R Robertson Mr R McCrimmon Mr A Dalton
Mr T McDonald Mr A McLucas Mr D Grant
Mr R A Budgen
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at Salerno, south-east of Naples, in September 1943 and was later deployed to Normandy, advancing from the D-Day beaches in June 1944.
He saw action around Caen and Falaise until August and it was during the push across the river Somme at the beginning of September that his daring and cour- age was most graphically illustrated. Now a captain, he was commanding a reconnaissance troop aiming to seize a crossing over the river. Working at speed, he dis- covered a concealed approach over a tributary, giving the regiment the element of surprise which prevented a bridge, already primed for destruction, from being blown up. He then personally led the leading squadron down to the river where two more bridges had been prepared for demolition. Even though a figure was seen apparently working on the demolition, Captain Sprot unhesitatingly drove across it, despite the enor- mous risk of the bridge being blown up under him. At the second crossing he was held up by enemy gunfire but, once the guns were out of action, a Scissors bridge was laid to strengthen the wooden structure and was