AMAZING ALUMNI – MAJOR BENJAMIN STRACHAN (M 37-42)
Major Benjamin Strachan was born in Edinburgh in 1924 and won a scholarship to Rossall in 1937. On leaving Rossall, he was offered a place at Oxford but chose to volunteer for military service instead and was commissioned into the Royal Dragoons at the age of 18.
His military service took him to France after D-Day and, after a number of attacks on his vehicle (which were mentioned in dispatches), he was captured by the Germans and taken to a hospital where he nearly died from blood poisoning and was flown back to Britain.
After the war, he joined the 4th Hussars, serving in Malaya. He later transferred to the 10th Hussars, taking command of his squadron as Major. He continued with his studies and later served as an intelligence officer in Egypt, ending his military career as Deputy Head of MI10.
Ben was then appointed as Head of the Middle East section of the Foreign Office, taking up posts in Kuwait and Jordan. In 1976 he was appointed as Ambassador to Yemen and then to Algeria.
On his retirement, he returned to Scotland and settled on his farm where he led a very active life and even graduated with an MA in Mathematics at the age of 81!
Benjamin passed away in July.
