Stewart-Rattray Gerald Alec Captain 66756
Personnel Entry
Name Stewart-Rattray Gerald Alec
Army number 66756
Rank Captain
Decorations
Date of birth 21/11/1916 at Plymouth, Devon.
Age 26
Unit Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Territorial Army - Royal Army Service Corps - 21/1/1936. Posted to 43rd (Wessesx) Divisional RASC. Posted to 36 Motor Coach (252 Company) RASC. Posted to 70th Brigade HQ in 1943 - exact date not yet confirmed. KILLED in Motorcycle Road Accident on the Camarthen-Lampeter Road 18/5/1943.
Company/Battery 70th Brigade HQ.
Platoon or other sub-unit
Task or role Brigade RASC Officer (BRASCO).
Joined Brigade
Promotions
Wounded
Prisoner of War
Died/Killed in action 18-May-43. Killed in motorcycle accident.
Home address Son of James Alec (1889 - 1917) and Violet May Stewart-Rattray. Husband of Ada Ernestine Stewart-Rattray (nee Willis) of Winchmore Hill, Middlesex. Funeral held 22/5/1943. Buried Grave 4, Section K. Carmarthen Cemetery. Headstone inscription - "SALUTE NOT THIS RESTING PLACE WITH SILENT TEAR OUR BIRTH TO HEAVEN WAS EVER THUS DEVOID OF FEAR".
Source table 70BG
It is understood that Captain Stewart-Rattray's widow was a published poet and penned the inscription on his headstone personally - papers to that effect having been found amongst the CWGC records. Unfortunately the quality of the headstone photograoh makes it difficult to read the inscription, although the recent revision to CWGC commemorative pages has allowed the inscription to be copied and included above.
The photographs below show the Officers of 36 Motor Coach Company in 1943, followed by the photo of 70th Brigade HQ staff at Cmarthen in 1943, with Captain Stewart-Rattray in the centre of the rear rank.
The help of James Stewart-Rattray and of the the Find a Grave Memorial Website is acknowledged for some elements of the information above.
