Hi there

Anybody know the name of the young Highlander who was Crerar's driver? Apparently the general like to drive himself so the young man did a lot of navigating.

Steve

The first image shows a Black Watch officer while the later photo shows another officer, also 2 Div. Can't help with a name but thought that you may enjoy the photos.

I thought the TIME article in the autumn of 1944 mentioned him by name; if I can find my copy I'll post it. If I recall correctly it was a Scottish surname.

It's not in the article, and I looked through Granatstein's chapter on him in THE GENERALS. For some reason, I seem to recall the name Bombardier McDonald as having worked for him, possibly as his batman.

According to a war-time newspaper clipping that I have (sorry I just have the clipping) the name of the General's batman was, in 1945 a Cpl. T.McDonald from Kingston.The caption with the photograph also mentions that has been the General's batman for the last four years and shows him sewing an additional "pip"on the chief's uniform which marks him as full general after his recent promotion from Lieutenat-General.
Jo

FWIW ... in the days when officers had batmen, within a battalion, the (LCol) CO's batman was usually a corporal who often doubled as his driver (The CO would have a staff car in garrison, and a jeep in the field) while the rest of the officers in the battalion respectively had privates for a batman, so it's highly unlikely that a general would have had a private or bombardier for a batman unless, of course, he had more than one. Also unlikely.