Page 171 - They Also Served

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Martin Lindsay 1925.
Martin Alexander Lindsay was born in London on 22nd August 1905. Educated at Wellington College, he was commissioned from Sandhurst into the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1925. After subaltern service, he was seconded to the 4th Battalion, Nigeria Regiment based in Lagos. During his time in Africa, Lindsay took part in several expeditions, including exploring the Ituri Rainforest in what was then the Belgian Congo. He also found time to ride, and won the Nigerian Grand National.
In 1930, he was appointed to the British Arctic Air Route Expedition to Greenland under the noted explorer Gino Watkins with the aim of surveying the largely unexplored interior. Although still only a lieutenant, Lindsay brought much-needed organisational experience to the team and wrote about his experiences in the 1932 book Those Greenland Days, which became a bestseller. The expedition members were also awarded the Polar Medal – the first to have been awarded for Arctic exploration in 60 years.
After service with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment in Shanghai, Lindsay was selected to lead the 1934 British-Trans Greenland Expedition under the patronage of the Prince of Wales. The three-man expedition crossed the island from east to west, mapping the highest mountains in the Arctic and completing a world-record dog sledge journey of 1,050 miles. A reporter for The Times wrote: ‘For daring and
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