Lieutenant-Colonel John Sym
5th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders

I rather prided myself, at the time, on my ability at aircraft recognition and reassured the Brigadier, who was regarding them rather apprehensively, that they were Kittihawks. A moment later we were throwing ourselves on our faces as their bombs crashed uncomfortably near us. I still think they were Kittihawks but, although they turned back and headed for home over our lines, my reputation was lost.

(J.M. Sym, Personal Account of El Alamein) https://51hd.co.uk/accounts/colonel_john_sym_dso

Born in Edinburgh on 10 October 1907, John Munro Sym attended Loretto School and graduated from Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned with the Seaforth Highlanders in 1927. During the 1930s, he served with the 2nd Battalion on the North West Frontier in India and in Palestine and then with the 1st Battalion in Egypt. He was posted to the British Military Mission in Iraq in 1939 prior to the outbreak of the Second World War.

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