MAJOR William Nimmo, MC, BA, LLB, WS, a former Argyll and Sutherland Highlander, who died on April 19, 1997, was awarded an MC for operations behind the Japanese lines in Burma in 1943. He was born on March 21, 1918.
Bill Nimmo was a member of a family which had lived in Falkirk for generations and was one of five brothers, three of whom were killed in the war. He was educated at Fettes and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read Classics, but the war interrupted his studies and he graduated as LLB at Edinburgh after 1945. After working for a short time in Falkirk he moved to Edinburgh, becoming a partner in Russel and Aitken, Solicitors.
Having joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, TA, he was called up in 1939 and after training with the 51st Highland Division was accepted for the commandos. As Chiang Kai-shek was hard-pressed by Japanese invaders and Chinese communist rivals at that time, he had asked Britain for commando assistance, but when Nimmo and his companions had learned Chinese on the boat going to the Far East, the Chinese Generalissimo changed his mind. Nimmo then volunteered for General Orde Wingate's Chindit expedition into the Burmese jungle behind the Japanese lines in 1943. As Force Demolition Officer, Nimmo commanded many of the combined British and Kachin parties which operated on the Japanese line of communication between Bhamo and Myitkino, hampering the enemy by road cratering, bridge destruction, mining, booby trapping, and ambushing. The citation for his MC commended his leadership and personal
example and his hard study of the Kachin language which enabled him to lead the guerrilla bands in the hills.
After taking part in the second Chindit operation, which went in mostly by air in 1944, he qualified as a parachutist and then volunteered for the Operational Group of Force 136 which was harassing the Japanese who were retreating from the 14th Army and preventing them from regrouping and making counter-attacks.
After the war he became a respected solicitor, as well as an authority on the history of Falkirk district. He was also responsible for the management of the family farm at Howkerse and cooperated with the Central Scotland Countryside Trust in the perpetuation of the old pear varieties in his orchard.
An elder of St George's West Church, Edinburgh, he and his wife often helped at the church centre. He is survived by his wife, Anne, and their two sons.
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