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2nd Battalion, Cameron Highlanders (Queens Own)
At the out break of The Second World War, The 2nd Battalion The Cameron Highlanders were in Egypt, they served in the campaigns of North Africa from September 1940 until they were captured at Tobruk.
4th Jun 1940 Training
 2nd Cameron Highlanders man a Bren gun set up on an anti-aircraft mounting in the back of a 15cwt truck during training at Mena Camp near Giza, Egypt, 4th of June 1940. © IWM (E 128)
4th Jun 1940 Training
23rd Oct 1940 Patrol
1st of May 1941 Defences
2nd of May 1941 Training 
3rd of May 1941 Inspection
3rd of May 1941 Church Parade
5th of May 1941 Inspection
6th of May 1941 Pay day
7th of May 1941 Tank hunting demonstration
8th of May 1941 Training
9th of May 1941 Machine gun training
10th of May 1941 Inspection
11th of May 1941 Tank hunting competition
12th of May 1941 Training and fuel saving
13th of May 1941 Training
14th of May 1941 Bomber crashed
15th of May 1941 Training
16th of May 1941 Demonstration of Minelaying
17th of May 1941 Inspection
18th of May 1941 Divine Services
19th of May 1941 Mine laying
20th of May 1941 Musketry
21st of May 1941 Orders for 0.9. Aerodrome Guard.
21st of May 1941 Conference
22nd of May 1941 Defensive Positions
23rd of May 1941 Training
23rd of May 1941 Defences
24th of May 1941 Tank hunting competition
25th of May 1941 Church Parade
26th of May 1941 Training and inspection
27th of May 1941 Battlefield tour
28th of May 1941 Preparations
29th of May 1941 Training
30th of May 1941 Conference
31st of May 1941 Training
1st of June 1941 Events for 21/5/41 to 31/5/41
22nd Jun 1942 2nd Camerons Captured The 2nd Camerons were captured at Tobruk on the 22 June 1942, 24 hours after their Brigade command had capitulated. Some men were able to escape but the majority were marched into captivity led by their pipers, an awesome sight to the enemy and fellow prisoners alike.
A Royal Artillery officer was witness to the arrival of 2nd Camerons to the POW cage:
"We heard, although we could scarcely believe it, the skirl of pipes. There, in the brilliant sunshine, marching down the centre of the road from the escarpment, came a long column of men. The Jerry traffic was brought to a standstill or forced on to the verges. A strange awed murmur went up from the cage: "The Camerons!"
In columns of threes they marched with a swing to the tune of their pipers - 'The March of The Cameron Men' - each company led by its company commander, just as though they were on parade. It was a supremely moving sight, although some of us could only see it hazily through our tears.
Even the Jerry sentries sprang to attention as the battalion neared the gates. There, the Camerons halted. Their Colonel reported to the Brigadier, saluted, and dismissed his men, who had held out for twenty-four hours after the surrender order had been issued."
22nd Jun 1942 2nd Camerons Captured
31st Oct 1944 Shelling
If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here.
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Those known to have served with 2nd Battalion, Cameron Highlanders (Queens Own) during the Second World War 1939-1945. - Adams Andrew. Pte.
- Anderson MID. John. Pte.
- Baistow Louis. Pte (d.27th July 1942)
- Boyers Horace John William.
- Bush MM. Henry. LCpl.
- Campbell George. Cpl
- Cargill J. Sgt.
- Corkell John. Pte. (d.31st Jan 1942)
- Corkell John. Pte. (d.31st Jan 1945)
- Crombie James. Cpl. (d.14th Feb 1941)
- Gillies Samuel. Pte.
- Hanson William Fitzpatrick . Pte.
- Harvie James. Pte. (d.9th Aug 1942)
- Keeper Thomas Edward. Pte.
- Low Charles Jackson. Pte. (d.18th May 1944)
- Low Charles Jackson. Pte. (d.18th May 1944)
- Mackay Duncan. Dvr.
- Matthews George Meek. Cpl. (d.15th Jun 1941)
- McGoran Joe. Lance Corporal
- McMullen Sidney Charles. Pte. (d.16th Jun 1941)
- Munro Donald J. B.. Cpl.
- Pickett DCM. Charles Stanley. Cpl.
- Poe George MacPherson. Lt. (d.5th Aug 1944)
- Robertson George. Capt.
- Rosier William Thomas. Cpl.
- Russell Stewart Nisbit. Pte.
- Sands MM. George. Sgt.
- Sands MM. George Percival. Sgt
- Shields Alexander Davidson. Pte. (d.8th Mar 1944)
- Shore Harold Thomas. Pte. (d.8th Sept 1939)
- Tierney Frank. Pte.
- Wilson Alexander. L/Cpl.
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
Records of 2nd Battalion, Cameron Highlanders (Queens Own) from other sources.
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Want to know more about 2nd Battalion, Cameron Highlanders (Queens Own)? There are:1356 items tagged 2nd Battalion, Cameron Highlanders (Queens Own) available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Pte. William Fitzpatrick Hanson 2nd Btn. Cameron Highlanders William Hanson was captured on the 21st of June 1942 in the Western desert.
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Pte. John Corkell 2nd Btn. Cameron Highlanders (d.31st Jan 1945) John Corkell is my uncle. I am doing family history and have some information on him, but I would like to know more about him, what kind of man he was and any info about his death.
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Horace John William Boyers 2nd Battalion Queens Own Cameron Highlanders Bill Boyers served with the 2nd Battalion, Queens Own Cameron Highlanders.
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Pte. John Corkell 2nd Btn. Cameron Highlanders (d.31st Jan 1942) John Corkell is my uncle, I don't have a lot of information on him and would like to know more about him. His name is recorded on the Roll of Honour.
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Capt. George Robertson 2nd Btn. Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders George Robertson enlisted in the 2nd Battalion of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders as a boy soldier in 1930 and served in Palestine and Egypt before returning home in 1938.
After a spell in the Fife Police he rejoined and trained at Fort George in 1942 and also did some training on the Isle of Man prior to going to Italy where he fought at Monte Cassino alongside Gurkhas as part of the 4th Indian Division.
George Robertson rejoined Fife Police after the war.
He died in 1995.
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Cpl. Charles Stanley Pickett DCM. 2nd Btn. Cameron Highlanders (Queens Own) On Saturday 20th of June 1942, after the Battalion position had been cut off from the remainder of the Tobruk Garrison, the Battalion Commander ordered all companies to move up to the forward positions of the Battalion. My father, Corporal Stan Pickett of the A/T platoon was ordered to sight his gun in the area of 'B' company's H.Q. position.On the morning of 21st of June 1942, the Battalion sector was heavily attacked from both front and rear. At about 10 am seven enemy tanks were observed forming up on El Adem road facing 'B' company's positions. My father was ordered to attack to engage these tanks with his 2 pounder A/T gun, he held his fire until the tanks were well within effective range, then with great coolness and deliberation he ordered the gun team to open fire and maintained complete control of his team, as a result of which each tank was successfully engaged and destroyed. He was captured on the day after this action, and was sent to Arezzo in Northern Italy. After the capitulation of Italy he was being moved to Germany and while marching from the camp escaped with a friend. Over five weeks he walked 500 miles back to the allied lines. When only 12 days from the allied lines he lost his friend in a mountain mist. He was awarded a DCM for his action in Tobruk. After repatriation he was sent to Palestine to work in the police force, remaining there until 1947.
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L/Cpl. Alexander Wilson 2nd Btn. Cameron Highlanders My grandfather Alexander Wilson of Clydebank, Glasgow was recruited into Cameron Highlanders in early 1940.
I have telegrams stating missing in action 21/06/42 (Tobruk), confirmed as POW in Italy on 19th of September 1942, but nothing in between.
A letter home from PG 70 dated 6th of February 1943 (the handwriting made it tough to decide if it was PG 10 or PG70, but I recently discovered that Jock Forsythe, was definitely sent to PG 70, and I have a letter stating that my grandfather was with him)
Then a telegram stating relocation to PG 68 dated 9th of March 1943 then another stating location at PG 55 dated 2nd of April 1943.
At some point after this he escaped with others into Switzerland. I have some letters dated from 11th of March 1944 from various British Legation, Camp d'internment militaire in Switzerland including Caux and Adelboden.
His letters and address book mention various names which may be of interest both military and in Switzerland including:
- Jock Forsythe POW from Duntocher (had malaria), Cameron Highlanders, 2932248
- R. Baptist. Durham Light Infantry (with him in pg70 and pg55 and in Switzerland) 4455336
- E.H Fitzpatrick, 1691862, RAF, Lincolnshire.
- A. Fitzpatrick, 14528658, Ormskirk.
and from Switzerland;
- Brigette Noscote, Zurich.
- Alice Naegel, Grindelwald.
- Hanni Schmoker, Merringen
- Frau Norton. possibly Morton, looks like a ski instructor! Bad handwriting.
I have quite a small archive of pictures, letters and telegrams which I'd be happy to share if you're interested. I'd love to be able to fill in all the blanks, but I've only just started researching.
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Cpl. Donald J. B. Munro 2nd Btn. Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders  During most of WWII my mother and I lived with my grandparents in a large flat in the American University at Cairo(A.U.C.). My grandfather, Charles C. Adams, was at that time Dean of Oriental Studies at A.U.C. The door was always open, and the enormous dining room table perpetually seated at least a dozen people for mid-morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and supper: many were servicemen (almost all "other ranks") from allied forces. My grandmother kept a Visitors Book from 1941 to 1948; Cpl. Munro's signature appears several times in 1942, '43 and '44.
I am much troubled by a circumstance I have never been able to clarify or resolve. At some point, Cpl. Munro's kilt came into my mother's possession. She was a first-rate seamstress and tailor, and in due course the kilt was transformed into matching kilt-shaped skirts for my mother and me (mine was tiny, as I was a skinny 9-year-old. The amount of material in a kilt is astonishing!). I didn't know until many years later that women were not supposed to wear the kilt. My mother may have known and simply disregarded this tradition. Much later, I was told that, after Dunkirk, the Cameron Highlanders never wore their kilts into battle. I haven't found verification of this. But it did suggest a possible explanation of how my mother came into possession of Munro's kilt. There was never a relationship with Munro, but I suspected that he had left the kilt with my grandmother when his battalion was posted to the Western Desert, and that he might have been among the casualties or POWs at Tobruk. But after I inherited my grandmother's Visitors Book in 2002, I eventually found that his signature reappears on 6 December 1942 and 3 January 1943, 27 June 1943 and 5 March 1944, this time giving his full home address: 18 Glen Nevis Place, Fort William, Inverness-shire, Scotland.
Long story short: I still have my mother's piece of Cpl Munro's kilt. She preserved the lining with his ID information on the inside. I did write to the War Office in the UK in the 1950s, but was told that Munro's fate would not be revealed to me, as I was not a relative, and that I should just keep the kilt. I am not comfortable with this, and am still trying to find out if our friend had relatives in Fort William who would be willing to accept (most of) his kilt.
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LCpl. Henry Bush MM. 2nd Btn. Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders Henry Bush is my great-grandfather, I still remember him when I was a kid.
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Pte. Frank Tierney 2nd Btn. Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders My father Frank Tierney served in the 2nd Battalion of the Camerons from May 1940 until just before the fall of Tobruk. Trained in Inverness he served in the Nairn Defence Platoon before shipping to serve in the Westen Desert, seeing action at Halfaiya Pass and other locations. He was part of the defence of Tobruk, serving in a mortar section prior to being evacuated following a wound on the hospital ship `Aba' prior to the fall of Tobruk.
He was subsequently transferred to the REME and saw action in North Africa until the capture of Tunis, taking part in the invasion of Sicily amd Italy before transfer back to the UK in early 1944.
He landed in Normandy on D-Day plus one and served in the British Liberation Army in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany before de-mob in 1946.
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Recomended Reading.Available at discounted prices.
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Charlie Company: In Service with C Company 2nd Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders 1940-1944Peter Cochrane
"Charlie Company" is something original, the story of a rifle company of the Cameron Highlanders whose record of service in the Western Desert, Eritrea, and throughout the Italian campaign fully deserves this tribute to their courage and endurance. Peter Cochrane joined the company as a young platoon commander in 1940. He won an MC in their first action in Libya, and followed this with a DSO for his part in the grim assault on Keren. Badly wounded there, he missed the disaster at Tobruk, but was back as company commander at Monte Cassino and afterwards for the long haul up Italy. From his own experience he has told the remarkable story of a small group of soldiers of whom any country would be proud. The stresses and horrors of war are there, but so is the humour and the wonderful spirit of men whose morale was somehow sustained to the very end. It is a deeply moving book.
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