Lest we forget: McGROGAN, Charles Neally – Royal Scots

Surname: McGrogan
First Name: Charles Neally
Nickname: Charlie
Awards:
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Junior Service Location: Plymouth & Oswestry
Junior Service Date: 1959-61
Junior Company: A
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Regiment: Royal Scots
Regular Service Date: 1961-70
Retirement Rank:
Age: 66
Date of Death: 2010 February 11
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From David Fraser – He was one of a kind and well known through out the Bn. He will sadly missed by all who knew him and a great loss to this association and to the Royal Scots Association

From Pete Fretter – Charlie was one of the founding members of the IBB & IJLB Association and our first Association Secretary and Treasurer it was his pride in being a Junior Leader that shaped the association we have today.

From Bob Ritchie – Charlie did all the ground work including bank set ups to get the Assoc on the road he was also instrumental in getting us to attend every reunion in MK. He was also the stalwart for the Royal Scots in the campaign to stop the mergers and amalgamations of the Scottish regiments. Went to the funeral of Charlie over 200 attended. Pipers and standard bearers with Assoc members marching. There was standing room only and the eulogy given by the last RS Colonel of the regiment [what else can I say]. A very popular man has departed us.

From Jim Murdoch – Charlie and I served as Cpl Instructors at the old Lowland Brigade Depot Glencorse in the 1960s. Charlie took the profession of Arms very seriously and inculcated in his recruits through his wonderful manner an intense desire to learn their trade. Often serious behind those glasses of his he would expound on his theories with a passion until red in the face then disarm us all with a boyish grin…..which inevitably won him the discussion! He lived and breathed his Regiment – The Royal Scots – ‘The Royals’ as he was wont to refer to them – this in turn created more ‘discussions’ among us though all in fun. I can still picture in my mind’s eye Charlie in working dress bonnet at a jaunty angle striding purposefully around the Depot on a bright Scottish summer’s day – revelling in the fact he was a soldier in his beloved Royals. Charlie was the consummate professional a good friend and one who will be sadly missed.
This is a poem that Charlie wrote

FOR AN OLD ROYAL
Sombre grey skies and sombre grey faces
minds slipping back to long forgotten places.
Ranked round the graveside old comrades stand
gathered to send off one of their band.
Long years ago we stood shoulder to shoulder
but now the ranks thin as alas we grow older.
Minds are still sharp and memories fonder
as we speed our pal to the camp over yonder.
In sunshine days when we were all young
and served in outposts far flung.
When you wanted a man who would cover your back
there he was and nothing did lack.
When the going was easy with time for a beer
he was always with us full of cheer.
In the rain and mud with the going tough
there he was with a ready laugh.
In deserts in back streets on Salisbury Plain
he showed us his mettle again and again.
No blustering hero but always there
safe and dependable strong as the square.
In imagination “The Garb of Old Gaul”
beats out the tune as the soft raindrops fall.
The pipes soft lament and the bugles loud call
the serenade that will come to us all.
Farewell old friend you’ve gone but remain
in our memories you’ll live again and again.
When old comrades meet to “swing the lampshade”
one thing is certain; You’ll be on parade