Lieutenant William Reay Atkinson CB RANVR

William Reay Atkinson ran away to sea in 1942 when his Mother signed his papers. His father badly wounded on the Somme refused to do so. Commissioned through the ranks; he served on the Russian and Atlantic convoys; went in on D-Day as a Sub Lieutenant; wounded badly at the Walcheren landings (when he was the last officer standing on his ship); patched up; sent out to the Far East; wounded again and spent 1945-1947 in hospital in Victoria Island. Invalided out, he went up to Oxford (Worcester College) in 1947 to read classics. Tried to re-join for Korea but turned down. He joined the career Civil Service and retired as PUS and Director of the Central Computer Agency in 1990, when he returned to the Scottish Borders.