Prime ministers like buses to 101-year-old Angus veteran

Pat Mills in demand for wartime stories from his time in Rhodesia

He took his first breath after being brought into the world by a future prime minister.

Then, when war broke out in his native Rhodesia, Pat Mills, who has just turned 101, joined the military – where he served alongside another future prime minister.

It’s little wonder then that his stories of wartime escapades are in high demand at Bield’s Kirkton Court in Kirriemuir where he retired with his wife Betty.

Born in Salisbury, the capital of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), he was delivered by Dr Godfrey Huggins, who would later become Southern Rhodesia’s prime minister in 1933, and again later as the first prime minister of the short lived Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. When war broke out in 1939, Mr Mills volunteered to join the military forces.

He said: “I was posted to 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF.

“Also serving in the squadron was the young pilot officer Ian Douglas Smith, who was one of the squadron’s fighter pilots.

“He went on to be the prime minister who declared Rhodesia’s independence from Britain in 1965.”

Mr Mills was playing tennis in the foothills of the Chimanimani Mountains when he met his future wife and love of his life, Betty Ferguson.

They went on to marry in Kirriemuir where her parents lived.

After their honeymoon they returned to Rhodesia before moving to South Africa in 1990 after their daughter married.

Several years later they decided to return to Scotland and settled in Kirriemuir.

Morna McLaren, retirement housing manager at Bield’s Kirkton Court, said: “It is never a dull moment listening to Pat’s wartime escapades.”

Pat Mills, who has just turned 101 years old, at his home.