Dear
Members,
We have received a message from Mrs Marian MacKenzie, informing us that her
husband, Mr John MacKenzie, has been appointed to the rank of 'Chevalier de
L'Ordre national de la Legion d'honneur' by H.E. the President of France. Mr
John MacKenzie (now 89) joined the Army at Perth (Scotland) on his 18th
Birthday and was engaged in infantry training on D-day 1944, completing this
in December that year. In convoy from Tilbury in January, 1945 he was rescued
when his troopship (HM-LST415) was torpedoed in the North Sea. He joined the
5/7th. Bn. Gordon Highlanders in Holland at Gennep, Reichswald Forest in
February, 1945 and saw further action at Goch (Siegfried Line), the Rhine
Crossing at Rees, and through northern Germany to Bremen and Bremerhaven
where he marched in the Victory Parade of the 51st Highland Division on 12th.
May, 1945. Post WW2 he served with the 2nd. Bn. Gordon Highlanders in Libya
in 1946, received a commission in the Royal Artillery in 1947, and was
demobilised in 1948. He joined the Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) in
October 1954 and was re-commissioned in Hong Kong following the Korean
Emergency and served with Royal Hong Kong Defence Force from 1954 until 1964,
retiring with the rank of Captain, as O.C. Mortar Platoon. Mr John MacKenzie
was a President of the Jaycees (1959) and of the Hong Kong Rotary Club
(1975-76). He also served on the Hong Kong Urban Council from 1971 to 1980,
and as a Justice of the Peace from 1973 to 1991.
The Secretary |
