John Thompson McKellar Anderson

With his commanding officer dead, most of the other rifle company commanders killed or wounded, and a wound in his own leg, Major John Thompson McKellar Anderson refused to stop the attack. On 23 April 1943, during the Battle of Longstop Hill in Tunisia, the young officer of the 8th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders reorganised shattered troops under intense enemy fire and led them forward to capture the objective. His actions that day earned him the Victoria Cross, making Anderson one of the most remarkable British gallantry recipients of the Second World War.

John Thompson McKellar Anderson was born in Hampstead, London, on 12 January 1918, the son of John Anderson and Mary Anne McNicol McKellar Anderson. He was educated at Stowe School before attending Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a BA Honours degree. In 1940 he married Moira Goddard. His later Commonwealth War Graves record identifies Moira as his wife and records his Cambridge degree.

Anderson entered the British Army during the Second World War and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on 23 March 1940, receiving service number 126502. He subsequently served with the regiment's 8th Battalion and rose rapidly in wartime rank. By the North African campaign he was a lieutenant holding the temporary rank of captain.

His first major decoration was the Distinguished Service Order. The award was published in the London Gazette, Supplement No. 36018, page 2208, on 18 May 1943, when the King approved decorations for service in North Africa. Anderson was specifically listed as Lieutenant (temporary Captain) John Thompson McKellar Anderson, 126502, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and the awards were made in recognition of gallant and distinguished service in North Africa.

Only weeks earlier, Anderson had performed the action that would make his name inseparable from Longstop Hill. On 23 April 1943 he was serving as a lieutenant, temporary captain and acting major. For approximately five hours he led the attack through intense machine-gun and mortar fire. As the leading company commander, he took his men across exposed rising ground towards the battalion's first objective while determined enemy resistance inflicted severe casualties. Before that objective had even been reached, every other rifle company commander had been killed or wounded.

The crisis deepened when the battalion's commanding officer was killed. Still under fire, Anderson reorganised the battalion, rallied men whose commanders had become casualties, assumed command and led the assault towards the second objective. During the advance he was wounded in the leg, but he continued. Longstop Hill was eventually taken by a force reduced to only four officers and fewer than forty other ranks.

Anderson did not direct the battle from safety. During the assault he personally led attacks against at least three enemy machine-gun positions, entering the enemy gun pits at the head of his men. He also led an attack on a position containing four mortars, defended by more than thirty enemy soldiers. His small force on the hill captured approximately 200 prisoners. The official citation credited his personal courage, leadership and example with inspiring men who had lost their commanders and enabling the advance to continue.

For these actions, Anderson was awarded the Victoria Cross. The award was published in the London Gazette, Second Supplement No. 36071, pages 2937 to 2938, on 29 June 1943. The official notice identified him as Lieutenant (temporary Captain) (acting Major) John Thompson McKellar Anderson, DSO, 126502, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and opened by recognising his conspicuous gallantry and outstanding devotion to duty at Longstop Hill.

Anderson did not survive the war to receive his Victoria Cross personally. After the North African campaign, the 8th Argylls fought in Italy. On 5 October 1943, less than six months after Longstop Hill, Major John Thompson McKellar Anderson was killed in action near Termoli. He was only twenty-five years old. He is buried in Sangro River War Cemetery, Italy, Plot VIII, Row A, Grave 44. His grave record confirms his service number, battalion, age, family details and the awards of the Victoria Cross and Distinguished Service Order.

Anderson's military career lasted only a few years, but his actions at Longstop Hill left an enduring record of battlefield leadership. When casualties stripped the battalion of much of its command structure, he took responsibility, rallied the survivors and continued the attack despite his own wound. His Victoria Cross and Distinguished Service Order stand as official recognition of a young Argyll officer whose courage under fire helped turn a desperate assault into the capture of one of the most fiercely contested positions of the Tunisian campaign.