85702 Major Malcolm MacALISTER HALL, MC, MiD, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

Personal Number: 85702
Rank: Major
Name: Malcolm MacALISTER HALL, MC, MiD
Unit: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders


London Gazette : 27 January 1939
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34593/page/609/data.pdf
The undermentioned Gentlemen Cadets, from the Royal Military College, to be 2nd Lts. 26th Jan. 1939:—
A. & S.H.—
Malcolm MACALISTER HALL.

London Gazette : 18 February 1941
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35077/supplement/960/data.pdf
The undermentioned 2nd Lts. to be Lts.: —
A. &S.H.
1st Jan. 1941: —
M. Macalister Hall (85702).

London Gazette : 26 March 1942
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35499/supplement/1371/data.pdf
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the following awards in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East:—
The Military Cross.
Lieutenant Malcolm Macalister Hall (85702), The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's).

London Gazette : 23 March 1944
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36436/supplement/1370/data.pdf
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve that the following be Mentioned in recognition ol gallant and distinguished services in Sicily: —
A. & S.H.
Lt. (temp. Capt.) M. Macalister Hall, M.C. (85702).

London Gazette :
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37635/supplement/3379/data.pdf
The undermentioned Lts. to be Capts. 1st July, 1946-—
A & S H.
(War Subs Capt) M. MACALISTER HALL, M.C. (85702).

London Gazette : 15 February 1949
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38538/supplement/808/data.pdf
A. &. S.H.
Capt. M. Mac ALISTER-HALL, M.C. (85702), retires receiving a gratuity, 16th Feb. 1949, and is granted the hon. rank of Maji

 

Recommendation for Award for McAlister-Hall, Malcolm Rank: Second Lieutenant ... | The National Archives
Reference: WO 373/61/696
Name McAlister-Hall, Malcolm
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Service No: 85702
Regiment: 1 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
Theatre of Combat or Operation: Escape and Evasion and Special Operations
Award: Military Cross
Date of announcement in London Gazette: 26 March 1942

 

London Gazette : 23 March 1944
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36436/supplement/1367/data.pdf

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36436/supplement/1370/data.pdf

 

See also:

• Malcolm Macalister Hall MC
• Malcolm Macalister Hall was born in Cork where his father, who had been badly wounded in 1915 at the Battle of Loos, was stationed to deal with local unrest. In 1937 Malcolm passed into Sandhurst directly from Uppingham School, and the following year was commissioned into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. By April 1939 he was off to Palestine with the 1st battalion to quell unrest with the Arabs. In December 1940 he was posted to the Western desert for the defence of Egypt and took part in the Battle of Sidi Barrani against the Italians. In the early part of May 1941 the battalion embarked for the Island of Crete. The sad story of the battalion in Crete will doubtless be well known to members of the regiment. The end result was that Malcolm, at the age of 22, along with more than 300 officers and men, was taken prisoner in June 1941. In later years Malcolm was wont to recall, ruefully, how his half of the battalion was able to pick up GHQ in Cairo over four hundred miles away on their wireless sets, but was quite unable to pick up vital messages regarding its withdrawal and evacuation just a few miles away on the other side of a range of hills. The British PoWs were transferred to Athens and shortly after that Malcolm and three others escaped. They split into two parties. Malcolm had sailed dinghies as a boy and was determined to try to escape by sea. The others were equally determined to escape by land and so they went their different ways. Malcolm, after many close shaves with the Germans and some Greeks, crossed the Aegean Sea bound for Turkey. Some of these locals were also heading for Turkey. It eventually transpired that they were Greek army officers hoping to join up with their own forces in Egypt, and they, in turn, initially suspected Malcolm of being a German spy. The Greeks had a larger boat with an engine and Malcolm pleaded with them to take him along, to which they finally agreed after much persuasion. Having successfully crossed the Aegean they landed in an isolated and desolate part of the Turkish coast and eventually made contact with British consular officials at Smyrna. As Malcolm was fair haired, and therefore very conspicuous amongst the Turks, he dyed his hair with a mixture of brilliantine, boot polish, and burnt cork so as to attract less attention. He was given a new passport and the necessary permits. During the long trek overland, Malcolm later admitted that he came close to giving up. The patent leather shoes he had been given had worn out and his clothes were flapping in ribbons. He eventually arrived back at his battalion, which was by now in Eritrea, some six months later, in December 1941. For his bravery, determination, and initiative he was awarded the Military Cross. The Battle of El Alamein followed and then came the landings on Sicily in July 1943 where he was in command of the landing of stores and equipment. For his exceptional work on the beaches he received a ''mentioned in despatches''. It was whilst on these beaches that he stepped on a mine, filling one leg up to the thigh with shrapnel. This injury was a source of constant irritation to him for the rest of his life. After recovering from his wounds, he was sent back to the UK as an instructor at an OCTU at Eaton Hall. Then came D-Day and the invasion and he appears to have got itchy feet again for action. He joined the 7th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in January 1945, who were operating somewhere in Belgium, and then fought with them through the Reichswald Forest and across the Rhine, finishing the war at Vechta, near Bremen. After a few more years soldiering he left the army and decided to farm, first at his childhood home in Carradale, Kintyre, and later in the Borders, before retiring back to Argyll. He was a quiet, humourous, and unassuming man but he also had great character and very real bravery. Many old friends will miss him a lot. Malcolm Macalister Hall MC, soldier and farmer; born December 27, 1918, died May 1, 2002