War veteran Major Thomas Arklay Guthrie, aged 99

Second World War veteran Major Thomas Arklay Guthrie has died at the age of 99.

Thomas was born on December 12 1918 in Newton Farm Cottage, Newton of Huntingtower Farm, near Perth.

He was the eldest son of John and Annie Guthrie. The farm produced and sold milk around the Tulloch area of Perth.

Thomas walked to church at Tibbermore every Sunday from the Newton of Huntingtower and by 18 was an elder.

In 1939, when war was declared with Germany, he was called up to The Black Watch in Perth and in early 1940 was sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force. In June 1940 he was evacuated from Cherbourg to Southampton on the last ship to leave.

In 1941 Thomas was commissioned as a Lieutenant 4/10 Gurkha Rifles. Three years later, with the Japanese invasion of India, he took part in the Battles of Kohima and Imphal and was promoted to major.

In 1944-45 he took part in the Burma campaign, pushing south from Assam in India through Burma. In September 1946 he moved to French Indo-China (now Vietnam) to help disarm 70,000 Japanese soldiers and await the return of French colonial troops.

Major Guthrie left the Army in 1948 and two years later he bought Guardswell, an upland livestock arable farm between Abernyte and Kinnaird on the braes of the Carse of Gowrie.

He married Marion June Johnson Main in 1952 and they raised four children – Katherine, Sandy, Arklay and Douglas. In 1966 Major Guthrie sold Guardswell and moved back to the Newton of Huntingtower Farm on the retiral of his father. In 1968 he took over the management of ADC Main Ltd Potato Merchants, a post he held until 1972, and also managed Windyedge Farm, Perth, until he retired in 2000.

Outside of work, he and wife June enjoyed playing bridge with good friends and neighbours.

Thomas and June retired to Huntingtowerfield, Perth, in 2001, where they enjoyed the company of their family.

Major Guthrie donated regularly to the Ghurkha Welfare Trust and supported their fundraising activities whenever he could.

He enjoyed great health right up to the end, living in his own home but with support from his family and day carers.

Major Guthrie is survived by his four children, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Major Thomas Arklay Guthrie.