Donald Alick Hendry: Tribute to a stalwart of Tain Royal British Legion
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TRIBUTES have been paid to a Tain Royal British Legion stalwart who has passed away.
Donald Alick Hendry, affectionately known as Donnie was born in Invergordon in December 1925. His father worked in the naval dockyard while he attended Invergordon Primary School and then the Academy, leaving at the age of 15 to work in a grocer’s.
In 1943 he volunteered for the Navy and served for two and a half years, taking part in the Normandy landings and later serving in Ceylon.In 1947 he joined the Air Force as a regular, serving in the UK, Egypt and Palestine. After his service he was employed at Invergordon Dockyard.
In 1954 he married Vida and son Donald was born in 1957. With cuts looming in the dockyard, he joined The Post Office Telephones (later BT) in Inverness and remained there for six years before moving to the Tain branch in 1963. After serving 33 years there, he retired in 1990.
He kept active in his retirement by walking, bowling and gardening. He took an active part in the Tain Branch of the Royal British Legion and was secretary for five years. He also wrote articles in the Tain and Dornoch Picture Post about the war-time history of the area on land and sea. Failing eyesight curtailed some of his activities in later life.
A chance meeting on holiday in the south of Scotland with a Swedish couple resulted in an invitation to visit Sweden. A friendship developed which lasted more than 20 years and in the ‘80s and ‘90s they visited each other regularly. Donnie took a course in the Swedish language and was able, after a time, to converse and write in Swedish.
In 2003 he received a civic award from the Highland Council for his work with The Royal British Legion Scotland and also became a great-grandfather. Sadly, Donnie passed away on November 12 and will be greatly missed. His funeral took place in Portmahomack.
If you have a tribute you would like to share, please get in touch by emailing newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk
