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John Donald Mowat
British Army Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
from:Letchworth, Herts
(d.4th Jan 2003)
My father Don Mowat used to say he was in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and the Hampshire Regiment. I never understood how he could be in both. He fought in India & Burma. He was injured & treated in hospital in India. He carried bits of shrapnel in his body for the rest of his life. He told me they went hungry & it was clear to me that this affected his relationship with food for many years afterwards. He would overeat and bolt his food down as if he still wasn't sure when he would get his next meal. He also spoke of how dense the jungle was and about having to constantly chop the foliage down to make a path through it. He told me how skilled the Japanese soldiers were at stalking the Allied soldiers, barely making any noise.
His father John Mowat OBE had fought in WW1 & then worked for the Ministry of Labour starting Government Retraining Centres for ex-forces personnel all over the Midlands and south of England. This meant they left Scotland when my father was 18. He was the eldest of five. I think he was either a Lieutenant or Acting Captain. I recall him talking about the humid heat making their Corned 'Bully' Beef turn to liquid.
