A youthful Ronnie Hay in the uniform of the Royal Marines

On 12th November the Daily Mail, an English tabloid newspaper, published a double page spread feature on Commander Ronald Hay, a noted Scottish hero of World War Two.

Ronnie Hay was born in Perth in 1916, the son of Captain Cuthbert Hay and the nephew of Major Malcolm Hay of Seaton.  He joined the Royal Marines in the 1930s and went on to make the unusual transition to the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy.  He first saw action during the German invasion of Norway.  He went on to serve in many of the iconic theatres of the Second World War: he provided air cover as a fighter pilot during the Dunkirk evacuations, was involved in the Battle of Britain and was serving with the Ark Royal when she hunted the German pocket battleship Bismarck.  In fact, he narrowly escaped going down with the famous aircraft carrier when she was sunk by a u-boat in 1941.  A true boys' own hero, he was awarded the DSO and the DSC for a uniquely distinguished war record.

He remained in the navy after the war when he commanded a training squadron before retiring to run a successful boat charter business.  He died, aged 85, in 2001.