Lieutenant-Colonel, David Ian MONTEATH
Aged 30
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David Ian MONTEATH seems to have been born in India, son of Sir James MONTEATH, K.G. S.I. and Bertha Geraldine MONTEATH (née JOHNSTON ) later of Honiton, Devon . His parents married at St Saviour, Stoke, nr.Guildford, 28th August 1912 His father was retired from the Indian Civil Service in Bombay, as was his father-in-law. The first trace of him is arriving in Plymouth from Bombay, aged 4, with his mother Bertha, aged 35 on the S.S. "Mandala" on 24th February 1919. Record show another instance of him arriving from Bombay, this time as an Army officer, 3rd April 1939, on the SS "Strathmore", aged 24 and heading for Honiton, Devon. His mother, (born in Edinburgh about 1884) died in the Firs Nursing Home, Staplegrove Road, Taunton 18th November 1976. His father (born about 1879), of Three Corners, Awliscombe, Devon, appears to have died in Honiton in June 1955.He may have been either born in Ireland or India. The Monteath name has many connections with the Army in India. One has to be extra careful as this David was Major, Acting Lt-Col and, but dying 2 days earlier and also buried in Taukkyan was Major David Monteith |
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The Gurkha Field Marshall is quoted as saying, "If a man says he is not afraid to die, then he is a liar, or a Gurkha" 4/5 Gurkha were at Kohima at that time, but unsure of the whereabouts of 3/5 David was originally buried in Sahmaw War Cemetery (Christian) in 6:G:6. The six buried in this cemetery were moved to Taukkyan on 30th July 1954. |
photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
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