His grandfather George Manson had established the Duncansby Post Office in 1892 and had pioneered the tourist trade for John O’Groats, selling postcards and souvenirs. Sandy worked in the shop from the age of eight. After his mother’s retirement, his father Hugh having died in 1942, he took over as postmaster in 1963, in a building he had helped construct.
After the war, he had initially worked in the Hall Russell shipyard at Aberdeen, before working on the construction of Highland hydro-electric plants.
In 1958 he married Nellie McGregor and they had six children. His daughter, Mrs Fiona Harper took over the Post Office.
| Unit or location | Role | Posted from | until |
|---|---|---|---|
| John O' Groats Patrol | Patrol member | 1940 | 1941 |
John O’Groats Primary School
Wick High School
In 1941 he left the Patrol to join the Royal Navy and was involved with convoy protection for the merchant ships travelling to the frozen waters of the north Atlantic and eventually onto Murmansk. The horrendous conditions erased most of the memories he had as a young 17 year old in the Auxiliary Units. He served on the destroyer HMS Matchless. He ended the war in the Far East and was one of the first Royal Navy sailors to go ashore in Tokyo after the Japanese surrender. He was demobbed in Hong Kong.
In 2013, he received the Arctic Star and in 2014, the Ushakov Medal from Russia’s Consul General for his aid to the USSR.