David Young (British Army officer)

Educated at George Watson's College in Edinburgh, Young was commissioned into the Royal Scots in 1945.[1] He was seconded to the Glider Pilot Regiment in 1949 and qualified as a pilot.[2]

He served in the Malayan Emergency in the early 1950s and won his Distinguished Flying Cross operating at low levels over rugged jungle terrain with 656 Air Observation Squadron.[2]

He was selected to be Commanding Officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots in 1967.[2] In 1970 he was appointed commander of the 12th Mechanised Brigade and in 1972 he became Deputy Military Secretary at the Ministry of Defence.[1] He moved on to be Commander Land Forces at HQ Northern Ireland in 1975 at the height of the Troubles[3] and then became Director, Infantry, in 1977.[1] He was made General Officer Commanding Scotland and Governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1980, before retiring from regular service in 1982.[1] He became Colonel Commandant of the Ulster Defence Regiment from 1986 to 1991.[2]

In retirement he became Chairman of Cairntech Limited.[1] He was also Chairman of the Scottish Committee of Marie Curie Cancer Care.[1]

He married Joyce Marian Melville in 1950; they had two sons.[1] Following the death of his first wife, he married Joanna Oyler in 1988.[1]