Longest-serving veteran of Second World War dies

Saturday 2 February 2013

SCOTLAND'S longest-serving Second World War veteran has died.

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Harry Morgan, a former Black Watch Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant and part of Scotland's legendary 51st Highland Division, was 87.

He was the longest-serving veteran of the Second World War, with a military career spanning a record-breaking 48 years.

Mr Morgan signed up to the Army in 1942, at the age of 17 and two days, and retired from the Territorial Army in 1990, aged 65.Born in Liverpool, he left school at 13 and was placed on the Territorial Army Reserve, as he was too young to enlist in full service. He joined The Black Watch in 1942 and was sent to Perth for initial training before he was transferred to the 1st Battalion Tyneside Scottish [Black Watch] and then to the 5th Battalion The Black Watch.Fighting as part of a rifle company through some of the fiercest battles of the war, Mr Morgan saw action at Caen, the Palais Gap, Ardennes, Reichwald, Goch and the crossing of the Rhine. He was awarded the War Medal and the France and Germany Star. At the end of the war Mr Morgan enlisted in the 6th/7th Battalion The Black Watch.When he retired in 1990 his then Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Richard Nunneley described him as an inspiration. After the death of his first wife he remarried and moved to Gloucestershire.Black Watch Association secretary Major Ronnie Proctor said they had lost one of their "best and dearest".

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Longest-serving veteran of Second World War dies

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