Syd Scroggie - Beleated 80th Birthday Wishes
Many Happy Returns Syd
Today, Monday 18th October, a personal friend of mine reaches his eightieth birthday, and, I know that along with myself there will be many,many, friends and acquaintances who will want to wish Syd a Very Happy Birthday, with many more to follow.
Syd is a remarkable man and known by hill walkers and climbers the world over. His exploits in the glens and mountains of his native Scotland are legendary. He is a journalist and poet who has brought happiness and enjoyment to thousands of people all over the world.
Syd and his twin brother Jack were the twin sons of a professional soldier from Newport and his mother from Dundee with a family history dating back to the 1600's. Syd's father was raised to Lieutenant from Private during WWI during which he won a D.S.O. and the Military Cross three times, and was also wounded. He died at the age of thirty-three years when he fell off a horse. Syd had another brother, Jim, three years his senior.
In his youth Syd was an adventurous lad and this took him to the glens and mountains of Glen Clova and Glen Doll, in the Cairngorm Range, north of Dundee. He was a fit and adventurous youth and at the beginning of World War 2 Syd enlisted in the Fraser Regiment, Lord Lovat's Scouts. This regiment had originally been raised to fight during the Boer War and again in World War 1. The Regiment was famous as a Yeomanry (Volunteer Cavalry) Regiment and took part in many engagements in South Africa and on the Continent. Syd spent three years with the Cameronians, Scottish Rifles before serving another two years in the Lovat Scouts as an Officer.
The Lovat Scouts went into training for mountain warfare, climbing and skiing. They were stationed in the Faroe Islands, the Welsh mountain area , and The School of Mountain Warfare in Braemar when they had the honour of guarding The Royal Family for a short period, at Balmoral Castle during WWII. The "Scouts" also spent a long period of training for mountain warfare at Jasper National Park,Alberta Canada, in the heart of the Candian Rocky Mountains, where they were put through a rigorous tough training in the necessary skills of skiing, ice and rock climbing, and survival in extreme conditions.
My Uncle Jack, who lived with us in Brechin until the war, was also a member of the Regiment and is buried in the mountains of Italy at Arrezo Military Cemetery in the mountains South of Florence. There are other British Troops in the cemetery alongside many Ghurka and Indian Troops.
Syd led various rock and snow climbs during training on Mount Columbia, Lake Athabaska, the Columbia Glacier, etc. The Canadian people were wonderful and friendly towards the Regiment. I believe part of the area was populated by members of Clan Fraser after the Jacobite uprising ended in 1745 at Culloden Moor, Scotland.
After their spell of training the Lovat Scouts sailed home and were given a last embarkation leave before shipping out for Italy. According to letters in my possession they had a tough time in the Mountains of Italy. On patrol in a forward location Lieutenant Syd Scroggie stepped on an anti-personnel mine which blew of his left leg below the knee, shattered his left hand and blinded him in both eyes. The last thing Syd remembers seeing was the blue of the Italian skies, before a red mask clouded his vision. He was taken to a hospital in Naples where he spent three months before being returned to St. Dunstan's Hospital in England.
Syd not only had to learn to cope without sight, but also had to learn to walk using a crutch. Syd was twenty five years of age then and to most men would have been a situation they found hard to cope with. Syd recalls the period as being "an adventure" and here is where we see the measure of the man. To Syd, this was a challenge.
Syd was employed at Burndept works at Dundee for two years and moved on to National Cash Register (NCR), Dundee, as a switchboard operator. He was there forover 23 years and retired in 1975 to his cottage home on the northern edge of Dundee with his beloved Sidlaw Hills only a few miles away. Syd will soon have been in the same cottage for fifty years, nearly twenty of those years along with his second wife, Margaret.
Syd spent many hours on his typewriter recording his memories of the happy times spent on Scotland's mountains and in the glens he always loved. Eventually he got going again and, along with friends who acted as a guide, Syd's love for the mountains and the glens and their people, all of whom loved and admired him, not only for his bravery in coping with his blindness and injuries but also for his great sense of humour and his ability to make people feel happy, was realised again. Syd has indeed become a legend in his own lifetime and we hope that it continues for many years to come.
Syd's stories and verse in his book "Give Me The Hills" is a master piece. His stories and poems, with illustrations by the late Colin Gibson, have been read enjoyed by thousands of people all over the world and another edition would be warmly welcomed. I am glad to count Syd as one of my best friends and know that his many friends all over the world will wish him and his wife Margaret many more happy years together.
Amongst Syd's many friends are Commander Mike and Mrs. Parker, Chaplain Moser, and Lieutenant Randy Lyman, late of United States Navy Base, R.A.F. Edzell. I arranged to have Syd visit the Base some years ago and those at the Club were delighted to meet him and listen to his stories of his life and his beloved mountains. I know they will all join me in wishing Syd a Happy Birthday and thank him for all the happiness he passes on to others.
I have permission from Syd to quote some of his poetry etc., and it is a hard choice to make as I enjoy them all.
On behalf of your many friends from U.S.Navy, Edzell, have a very Happy Birthday Syd. I shall be through to see you soon, and have a dram. Tell Mary I only drank lemonade!
Slainte Mhath,
Eric
"JE SUIS PREST"
More about Syd can be found by hitting this link