Lieutenant-Colonel Scrappy Hay
5th/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders

Lt Col Hay commanding the bn, during the whole of this time was always where the fighting was at its thickest. With complete disregard to his own safety he moved from one defensive position to another under heavy fire extolling the men and encouraging them. During the whole of the time of the action which last 48 hours he had hardly any sleep at all.

(D.S.O. citation, 31 Aug 1944)

Born on 31 May 1912 Surrey, England, James Eric Goldwin Hay took a commission with the Gordon Highlanders after attending the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He commanded a battle training school before the 51st Division embarked for North Africa. During the Second Battle of El Alamein on 25 October 1942, Hay took command of the 1st Gordon Highlanders when Lieutenant-Colonel Horatius Murray was put out of action and another major also named James Hay was badly wounded in a mine blast.

Within a few days Major H.A.F. Fausset-Farquhar took over and Hay then transferred to the 5/7th Gordon Highlanders. He assumed command in May 1943. During the invasion of Sicily three months later, he would be accidently shot in the thigh by the intelligence officer when he tossed his Beretta to the ground. Brigadier Nap Murray 153rd Infantry Brigade recalled that shortly after landing on 10 July:

Eventually all were assembled and this had no sooner been achieved than a shot rang out, followed by a cry from ‘Scrappy’ that he had been shot, Pandemonium reigned for a time, weapons were being levelled in all directions in the most frightening manner, directed at any would-be sniper. After a time it was noticed that the Intelligence Officer had remained completely immobile. He looked very ill and indeed he was a poor sailor …

There are many contingencies that we considered in our planning, but one of them was not the possibility of the Intelligence Officer shooting the Commanding Officer: the latter to his fury, found himself being evacuated in the same ship that had brought him ashore.

Hay recovered and resumed command of the 5/7th Gordons near the beginning of August. The battalion along with the 51st Division returned to the United Kingdom that fall for preparation before the invasion of France. After a month and a half hard fighting in Normandy, Hay earned the Distinguished Service Order. On 21 July, he suffered a head wound from shell fire and was evacuated. Lieutenant-Colonel H.A.C. Blair-Imrie assumed command until his death less than a month later. 

After the war, Hay commanded the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders in Malaya and Cyprus. When his tenure ended in 1956, the regimental magazine noted: “he can not only consider this experience as a more than interesting tour of command, but would be justified in congratulating himself on the very fine example and high standard he set which enabled the battalion to carry out so many varying tasks with such efficiency and well-earned praise.” In later life Hay ran a fishing tackle shop in Winchester, Hampshire where he died on 25 January 1984.