Page 92 - The Wish Stream Year of 2021 (Crest)

Famous Friday
By Vaughan Kent-Payne
Every Friday for the last four years, The Sand- hurst Trust Facebook page featured a for- mer cadet who went on to make a mark
MIKE CAMPBELL-LAMERTON
Duke of Wellington’s Regiment 1952
The son of an officer in the Royal Navy, Michael John Campbell-Lamerton was born in Valetta, Malta, on 1st August 1933. His father was killed in action in 1943 and he was educated at Otter- shaw School before being called up for National Service. Commissioned into the Duke of Wel- lington’s Regiment on 4th October 1952, he immediately deployed to Korea. At the Battle of The Hook in May 1953, Campbell-Lamerton and another Platoon Commander, future Scot- tish rugby international David Gilbert-Smith, led a charge against Chinese forces which recaptured a vital piece of ground. Both were recommended for the Military Cross but the quota system meant that only Gilbert-Smith received the award. Later in the campaign, Campbell-Lamerton stood on a mine but froze when he heard the click of the mechanism. One of his Corporals
in life outside the Army. In 2021 we expanded the series to include officers commissioned from routes other that Sandhurst. Here are six of them:
retained of it was of this man-
mountain surging out of the
mist like a mastodon from a
primeval swamp.” Such was
his impact on the game that
the authorities, seizing on the obvious ancestry of part of his name, recruited him into the Scot- tish squad where he remained a fixture for the next five years. Allan Massie described him thus: “The sight of Captain M J Campbell-Lamerton surging round the tail of a line-out like an enraged hippopotamus was one of the most stirring spectacles in Scottish rugby.” For the most part a genial, ‘gentle giant’, he once, however, laid out a French player who had unwisely grabbed a sensitive part of his anatomy. After this, the Gallic press referred to him as ‘l’Abominable’.
had served in bomb disposal dur- ing the Second World War and was able to defuse the device.
Selected to convert to a regular
commission, he served during the
EOKA campaign in Cyprus once
falling 60 feet from a helicopter in full kit resulting in severe injuries and a lengthy stay at the recov- ery centre at Headley Court. 6 foot 5 inches tall and weighing 17 stone, Campbell-Lamerton was a rugby player whose enthusiasm and fear- lessness outweighed any lack of skill. While sta- tioned in Gibraltar, he was injured in a Regimen- tal match and, after a call over the tannoy for a volunteer to take him to hospital, he eventually married the female good Samaritan.
Campbell-Lamerton made a spectacular and hitherto unexpected break into international rugby when playing for combined services against Scotland at Murrayfield in December 1960. Played in thick mist, one commentator wrote: “almost the only impression spectators
with the British Lions in 1962, play- ing all four tests. In 1966 he was the surprising selection as Captain for the Lions tour. The campaign
started well with two wins over Australia but the New Zealand stage was marred by ill feel- ing. After one match, fellow Scot Jim Telfer remarked; “I wouldn’t describe today’s game as dirty, because all our games in New Zealand have been dirty.” The Lions lost all four tests. Campbell-Lamerton was injured for the second and sensationally dropped himself for the fourth. Another player, Brian Price, said; “We respected him because he was so hard-working – we stuck together.” Indeed, in a reflection of how haphaz- ard rugby administration could be in the ama- teur era, Campbell-Lamerton was, at one stage, acting as both tour manager and coach as well as giving a remarkable 257 speeches and inter- views during the tour.
Campbell-Lamerton Campbell-Lamerton played 23 times stood on a mine but for Scotland including two tests as froze when he heard captain. He also toured South Africa
the click of the mechanism
90 HISTORICAL