Lieutenant-Colonel J.G. Shillington
6th Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers

From an Army point of view such a Team might be the Section, Platoon, Company, Battalion, Brigade or Division. In fact, this pride in the Team is described as esprit de corps ; but the term can have a wider meaning than that—it can embrace groups of Armies, such as the 21st Army Group, or a combination of the three Services, where mutual trust and pride are essential as was so well proved when, for instance, the Royal Navy successfully landed the Army on the beaches of Normandy under the umbrella of the Royal Air Force. Indeed, it can extend to nations, groups of nations and, in our utopian dreams, to the World itself.

(Shillington, “Morale,” RUSI Journal, 1950, 254)

Born on 18 December 1900 in Portadown, Armagh, Northern Ireland, John Graham Shillington was a steeplechaser and officer in the King’s Own Scottish Borders since 1921. His father Major David Graham Shillington was elected member of parliament for Armagh (1921–1929) and Armagh Central (1929–1941) for the Ulster Unionist Party. The younger Shillington followed his father in a military career and served as adjutant of the 2nd Battalion while stationed in Hong Kong during the late 1920s.

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