Lieutenant Colonel M A Lowry MBE MC
Commanding Officer - The East Surrey Regiment
Commanded 1st Battalion The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment from November I960 to May 1963
Michael Alastair Lowry was born on 30th January 1919 and was educated at Uppingham School and the RMC Sandhurst He was commissioned into the Queen's Royal Regiment in July 1939 and was posted to the 1st Battalion in Allahabad India.
In December 1940 he was wounded on operations in the Razmak area of the North West Frontier Province of India , where he was a platoon and later a company commander , he was awarded a Mention in Despatches in 1942 As a company commander during the Burma campaign in Arakan (1943-44) when the Battalion and the Division were cut off by the Japanese. During April and May 1944 , the Battalion was moved to Assam , and took part in the battles to relieve Kohima , notably that for Jail Hill
From April 1945 to March 1947 he was an instructor at 164 Officer Cadet Training Unit in the UK He rejoined the 1st Battalion in Singapore as Adjutant in 1947 and returned with the Battalion cadre to the UK in 1948 , and became Adjutant at the Regimental Depot at Guildford In April 1951 he was posted as GSO 3 HQ British Troops Austria until December when he became Military Assistant and Military Secretary to the General Officer Commanding British troops in Austria until 1953 He rejoined the 1st Battalion as a company commander in 1953 and served in Malaya during the anti-communist operations where he was awarded a Military Cross in 1955 .
In September 1956 he was appointed Commandant of a troopship during the Suez campaign. From March 1957 until October 1958 he was Training Major of 5th Battalion The Queen's Royal Regiment (TA); and in 1958 he was posted as 2IC of the Somaliland Scouts
In November 1960 he was appointed to command 1st Battalion The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment in England , then moving to Aden in 1961. Whilst the Battalion was in Aden , the Tercentenary of the Regiment was celebrated and the Regimental Colour was Trooped in the presence of HRH Princess Alexandra He moved with the Battalion to Hong Kong in 1962 After this command he was appointed Commandant of the HQ and Administrative Wing at the School of Infantry , Warminster He was a keen player of all sport and games , having played cricket, rugby and hockey and boxed for the 1st Battalion over the years , and he captained the Regimental cricket side from 1946 until 1972 (when in the UK) .
He retired from the Army in November 1967 to farm in Wiltshire.
During his retirement he became involved in politics : becoming Chairman of the Wessex European Constituency Council from 1979-1982 , Chairman of the Wessex Conservative Political Centre and a member of the C PC National Advisory Council from 1984-1987 , (he was in the Grand Hotel Brighton when the IRA bomb was exploded in 1984) . He was made an MBE in 1983.
Since retirement he has been engaged in speaking and writing on European and NATO affairs More particularly since 1983 he has been writing on European Security and/Atlantic Alliance on behalf of the former British Atlantic Committee and Peace Through NATO , and currently (1994-1996) for the Atlantic Council of the UK.
He is a member of this Council and the Council for Arms Control, the European- Atlantic Group and the British-Russian Centre. Books published : "An Infantry Company in Arakan and Kohima", 1950 ; "European Security and the Atlantic Alliance", 1995, and “Fighting through to Kohima“ 2003.
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