THERE were reunions all round when Chesham World War II veteran Jim Randall visited his former regiment, the Royal Scots Guards, as they commemorated the Battle of Waterloo.

Mr Randall's first reunion was with Colonel Aiden Sprot, his reconnaissance troop commander during the regiment's campaign from Normandy to the Baltic. The Colonel presented him with a copy of his recently published war memoirs, Swifter Than Eagles.

Mr Randall, 82, of Chessmount Rise, Chesham, was joined at the reunion by his youngest son Jonathan, 37. Jonathan followed his father into the Scots Dragon Guards before transferring to the Royal Logistic Corps, where he is now a sergeant major.

Mr Randall has a remarkable story about how he came to serve with the Scotland's elite cavalry regiment.

When he enlisted in 1939, he was told to report to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. But Mr Randall, a keen horseman, insisted upon joining the cavalry. He even wrote a letter to the War Office, which agreed to send him to the Colchester cavalry depot.

When he boarded his troop ship bound for Palestine, he met some troopers of the Scots Greys. So when he disembarked, Mr Randall removed his original cap badge and proceeded with his new-found regiment to their quarters. He then served with them throughout the war.

After the war Mr Randall, a father-of-four, taught at White Hill boys School in Chesham.

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