The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Army cadet commandant, Col Alasdair Maclean, 76
Former Angus and Dundee Cadet Commandant Colonel Alasdair Maclean has died aged 76.
In a 30-year Army Reserve career with 153 (Highland) Regiment of the Royal Corps of Transport, he commanded four of the Regiment’s five Squadrons, a feat thought to be unique.
He was also the first Reserve officer to qualify as a Joint Warfare Staff Planner.
On retiring from the Territorial Army, as the Army Reserve was then called, he joined the Army Cadet Force and rose to command of its Angus and Dundee Battalion for four years.
He then voluntarily dropped two ranks, from Colonel to Major, and was head of ACF public relations for Scotland before age compelled him to retire.
In civilian life he was a journalist with DC Thomson for more than 20 years, on Commando War Stories in Pictures, The Evening Telegraph and the longgone but much-loved People’s Journal. He was in charge of the Dundee edition and even “put away” the Journal’s final edition for printing.
He then returned to the Tele in charge of advertising features.
He also contributed record reviews and book reviews to The Scots Magazine for 20 years.
On leaving the firm in 2001 he gained two degrees from Abertay University and lectured there for 15 years, combining the post with that of press officer for Angus College in Arbroath.
After retiring from Abertay he lectured for some years in the English Language Teaching Centre and the School of Management in St Andrews University.
A long-term British Legion Scotland member, he served more than 20 years on the Committee of the Angus and Perthshire Areas Festival of Remembrance held annually in the Caird Hall, Dundee, and edited the Festival Souvenir Programme. In later years he also volunteered for the NHS in King’s Cross Health and Community Care Centre in Hospital Street.
His wife Kerry pre-deceased him on Christmas Day 2014. He is survived by son Fergus and daughter-in-law Pamela, his daughter Dee and her husband Mark in California, and five grandchildren – Adam, Alex and Ruairi in Dundee, and Beth and Bridget in the US.