"Major James Nairne, who has died aged 100, saw active service with the Seaforth Highlanders in the campaign in north-west Europe, and after retiring from the Army he served as a Queen’s Messenger. James Kemp Nairne, the third of four boys, was born in Belfast on December 7 1923. His father, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Nairne, had served with the Seaforth Highlanders in the First World War and was a talented artist. His mother was an active member of an amateur dramatic company. Young James was brought up in the countryside near Winchester before going to Dauntsey’s School at West Lavington in Wiltshire. In June 1942 he enlisted in the Seaforth Highlanders, in which one of his brothers was already serving. After basic training at Fort George, Inverness, on June 3 1944 Nairne embarked at Tilbury Docks for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy. He landed on Gold Beach on June 7 (D-Day+1) and fought throughout the campaign as a rifleman in the 2nd Battalion. He served in the Intelligence Section until early in 1945, when he became a section commander. At the end of the year he was a corporal and decided to apply for officer training. After being granted a regular commission in November, he served in Germany and Gibraltar before moving to Malaya with the 1st Battalion, where he was second-in-command of a company on internal security operations during the Emergency. In 1955, he served with the 1st Battalion in the Western Aden Protectorate on operations against dissident tribal groups before returning to Gibraltar as a company commander. After nine months at Munster in West Germany in command of a company, in 1959 he retired from the Army in the rank of major. Nairne joined The Scotsman newspaper, based in Edinburgh, as a research assistant and, after a few years, became their assistant advertisement manager. He recalled that his main task was preparing the lay-out for the daily edition. Since he had never been much of a mathematician this was not easy, and it was often made more difficult by the need to pacify a sub-editor whose special piece had to be held over in favour of an advertisement on its way by train from London – a pre-digital age, indeed. In 1965, restless, in search of a more demanding role and imbued with a spirit of public service, he was attracted by the idea of joining the Corps of Queen’s Messengers. The job required 24-hour dedication, total discretion and considerable reserves of patience. It involved conveying confidential messages and documents for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to British embassies and high commissions around the world." Major James Nairne, Normandy veteran who went on to travel the world as a Queen’s Messenger
