AN OLD soldier who guarded Hitler’s deputy at the infamous Spandau Prison has backed The Courier’s campaign to save The Black Watch.

Then a corporal in the regiment, Charles Wilson watched over Rudolf Hess, the Nazi deputy fuhrer, as he served out the life sentence handed down by the Nuremberg trials.

Speaking to The Courier, he said any decision that jeopardised the existence of The Black Watch “was a stab in the back” to all the regiment’s men, past and present.

In September 1954, he entered the Queen’s Barracks in Perth having been “called up” to join The Black Watch RHR (Royal Highland Regiment).

“Fifty years on the passage of time diminishes memories, but some still remain,” he said.

Among those memories are his service as a member of the royal bodyguard at Balmoral Castle; guarding the Nazi war criminals in Spandau Prison, west Berlin; and carrying out border patrols between west and east Berlin.

However, he added, “There is one memory that never diminishes—the pride of having served in the finest and most famous regiment in the world.”

Mr Wilson recalled that pride in the regiment was instilled from basic training, with regimental history lessons being given from the book issued to each recruit.

He explained, “An examination had to be sat in the last week of training, which had to be passed if one was to progress to the passing- out parade.

“This pride in the regiment was further bolstered by our drill sergeant who would shout when we were on parade, ‘I want bags of swank; remember it takes 10 guardsmen to make one Black Watch soldier.’

“Now I learn that after nearly 400 years of the finest tradition there is a strong possibility that The Black Watch are to be consigned to oblivion. This is a disgrace.

“I shudder to think what the late Queen Mother would have said about this threat to her beloved Black Watch, the only royal Highland regiment in the world.”

He questioned the thinking behind the threat to the regiment, particularly given its current role in Iraq.

“This is a task that has been carried out admirably by The Black Watch RHR over many years and at present in Iraq.

“To disband such an effective force is not only foolhardy and an out and out disgrace, but is a stab in the back to these fine men, past and present.”