Banker and sportsman who served with the Commandos
on D-Day landings
DONALD Johnston Gilchrist went straight into banking after completing his schooling at Paisley Grammar School and Barbour Academy.
He joined the Royal Bank of Scotland, Renfrew branch, in 1929. Day to day operations then were carried out by the accountant and a junior.
It was an open counter and customers showed interest in the young man who played for Craiglea Rugby Club and Thornliepark Tennis Club and competed in West of Scotland and local championships.
In 1938, when the clouds of war loomed over Europe, he joined the Territorial Army and was commissioned into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). In 1939 war broke out and he was called up to the colours.
He was seconded as a captain to assist training of the new RAF regiment in Filey, Yorkshire. He volunteered for special service with the Commandos and passed the gruelling course at Achnacarry, the estate of Cameron of Lochiel, famous for his historical connection with Bonnie Prince Charlie and the 1745 uprising.
After a spell as an instructor, Gilchrist was posted to Lovats No 4 Commando in time to take part in the final assault on the guns at Varengeville, the Dieppe raid.
In 1944 he landed in France with No 4 Commando and was attached to French troops. He was adjutant of the unit on the beaches of Normandy at Il Houron on D-Day.
He was major and second in command of the unit in Germany when he was demobilised. He returned home to marry Rosemary Anne, and went back to the Renfrew branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. From Renfrew he was moved to St Vincent Street, Glasgow, as chief officer in the securities department, before being sent to Ayr, Cumnock, then appointed manager at Prestwick and later manager at Ayr Sandgate office.
Like most bank managers, he was a member of clubs and associations.
As well as the Royal Troon Golf Club, Gilchrist was the Ayr Chamber of Commerce representative of the West of Scotland war pensions' committee. He began the Ayr branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society and, after serving for 30 years, retired as president. He later became honorary vice-president.
Gilchrist painted in oils and wrote two books, Castle Commando and The Commandos D- Day and After.
He held the Territorial decoration, the Croix de Guerre with citation, and had the Ordre Nationale du Merit Francaise by decree of the president of France.
In 1975, Gilchrist was invited by his French companions of the war to Paris, where before a large parade of French troops and members of the wartime resistance movement and huge crowds, he carried out the ceremony of the flame in the presence of the French president Francois Mitterrand and afterwards signed the Golden Book.
Gilchrist never forgot the notice in the bank's Renfrew branch: Foreign Business Transacted Here. He meant to have it changed to: Foreign Business Transacted Here, There, and Everywhere, as that's the way it was.
His funeral was attended by many of his admirers and friends, including a detachment of Commandos who served with him.
Donald Johnston Gilchrist, banker, born October 2, 1914; died October 8, 2001.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article