Iain Mathieson

Unilever executive whose remarkable war heroism was known to only a few

Iain Mathieson, soldier and executive. Born: 9 January, 1925 in Glasgow. Died: 25 May, 2017 in Glasgow, aged 92.

It seems desperately unfair that Iain Matheson, a young soldier from Glasgow, never received official recognition for having carried out an act of astonishing bravery in Burma in 1944. In monsoon conditions – which he later likened to “The Somme at 45 degrees” – that courage saved the life of a fellow officer.

It was May, and the monsoon was well under way as the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders were taking over defensive positions on the Shenam Saddle in the mountains south of the Imphal plain. They were already struggling with the effects of the heavy rain on their hot, muddy trenches and were under constant threat of lightning (one flash had detonated a third of the mines on the road below Scraggy Hill, where they were based).

On 20 May 1944 Lt John Gunn was tasked with strengthening the perimeter around the forward conditions, and this triggered an attack from the Japanese forces, who were never less than 20 metres from the Seaforths’ positions on the hill. The Japanese bombarded the “Fighting Jocks” with grenades and shells, sending them back into the trenches, and over the next hour an intense gun battle raged around Gunn’s forward platoon. So many British soldiers were wounded that those in the trench nearest the Japanese line had to be replaced three times in a single hour.

Lt Gunn himself was hit in the stomach and it looked as if he was dead. Meanwhile, Lt Iain Matheson, who had been feeding grenades to the forward platoons, noticed some movement in Gunn’s body. Despite the intense small arms fire and cascade of grenades, he crawled out of his trench (it was so wet that the men were calf-deep in mud) onto open ground and dragged the dangerously injured Lt Gunn back to relative safety.

He then carried him on his back down to the American Field Ambulance Troop, then rejoined his comrades after stopping to collect two more boxes of grenades. Lt John Gunn was later awarded a Bar to his MC in recognition for his own actions that day. Iain Mathieson, however, received nothing. Later in life, he would say that he was rewarded with something more precious: the close friendship of John Gunn and his wife Miriam.

For the rest of his life, when John Gunn felt he was irritating people, he would say: “Don’t blame me. Blame Iain Mathieson.”

Iain Mathieson was born a few days after Hogmanay in 1925 in Cardonald, Glasgow, to James and Anne, who also had a daughter, Sheila. His father had been a clerk before the First World War, afterwards joining Caledonian Macbrayne, where he was a director, working with cargo handling and puffers. Iain won a scholarship to attend Glasgow High School but had to leave at the age of 14 to work and contribute to the family income.

His life changed dramatically after he volunteered on his 18th birthday. He joined the Cameronians, his father’s old regiment, and did his officer training in India, as he was fascinated by Indian culture. He later joined the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders.

Following the battle on Scraggy Hill, the Seaforth Highlanders stayed in the field until August 1944, withstanding awful conditions, jungle diseases and regular attacks from the Japanese forces. Mathieson was promoted to Captain, and his battalion were preparing for Operation Zipper, the retaking of Malaya. But the atom bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki meant their landings were unopposed.

After having been on active overseas duty for more than a decade, the battalion were exhausted and hoping to return to the UK, but in September 1945 they were sent to Batavia in what was then the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. The following year Mathieson was promoted to Acting Major; he jokingly said this was in order to get a better berth on the troop ship home.

On the way home, via Burma, he met Major Richard Geoffrey Pine-coffin – later Commander of the Airborne Forces – who suggested he might like to join the Parachute Regiment, but Mathieson resigned his commission when he got back to Glasgow in 1947.

The following year, though, he was invited to dine at Rogano in Glasgow, where the famously persuasive Brigadier Alasdair Pearson, the most decorated paratrooper of the Second World war, talked him into joining the 15th Scottish Parachute Regiment, a Territorial Army unit. Mathieson stayed with the regiment until 1954, having done 62 jumps, and later saying that the only reason he resigned his commission was because jumping out of aeroplanes was not conducive to married life.

According to Mathieson family folklore, his wife Betty received a letter from Major Pine-coffin, asking her to reconsider and give Iain her blessing to continue with the regiment, but she thought it was a hoax as the author’s name simply didn’t sound real.

In 1951 Mathieson had met the then Elizabeth Kelly, a nurse at the Western Infirmary, at the Cardonald Tennis Club, and after courting for two years they were married. In 1947 Mathieson joined British Oil and Cake Mills, and his 35-year career with Unilever began. He was marked out as a potential high flier, and did business training at Worcester College Oxford, before joining Mac Fisheries in 1955. Two years later he joined Birds Eye Food, where he spent the rest of his career, eventually becoming controller of sales, marketing and logistics for the company in the north of England and later Scotland. In the 1960s he introduced the concept of business-to-business telesales, which involved Birds Eye’s sales teams directly contacting local shops, encouraging them to stock the manufacturer’s range. By the time he retired in 1983 he was managing a 200-strong workforce across several sites.

Right until the end, Mathieson had an excellent memory, and after he retired he put it to good use researching the Seaforths’ history in Burma and beyond. Having been deeply impressed by the men of the 3/3 Gurkhas who had served alongside him, he was a dedicated supporter of the Gurkha Widows. He was also an early supporter of Mary’s Meals and Action Aid. Having excelled in rugby while at school (earning the nickname “Tiger” because of his ferocity on the wing), he loved training the colts at Stirling County Rugby Club, where he helped nurture more than one future Scotland player.

Mathieson never talked about his experiences at war, and his family first heard about his heroism in Burma after meeting John Gunn at his daughter’s engagement party.

Iain Mathieson is survived by three children: Amanda, James and Aros (another daughter, Anne, died in infancy), and three grandchildren. His first great-grandchild was born a few days after he died. Betty died in 2010.

ASHLEY DAVIES

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