He was born in Greenock to Peter and Ellen Wylie.
On 30 Aug 1944, while serving with the SAS, he married Helen Robertson Edwards, a nurse from Blackridge, where her parents ran the newsagents. The wedding was at Burnbank Church in Glasgow by the Reverend W Nethercote Scott. They would go on to have three sons and a daughter.
His Army record states he was 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing 127 pounds, with light brown eyes and fair hair.
After the war he worked in the motor trade with McIntyre in Port Glasgow Road and Mitchell's in Grey Place. In the early 1960's he was also a councillor in the Greenock Corporation. In 1974 he joined Fuller's confectionary company as first their factory manager then later as general manager.
He also served for a period as secretary of Lodge Greenock Kilwinning No.XII on the roll of The Grand Lodge of Scotland, one of the oldest Masonic lodges.
He was a member of Inverclyde Indoor Bowling Centre and was elected President of Ardgowan Bowling Club not long before his death.
No postings found for this person.
Time Keeper
He enlisted shortly after the outbreak of war. After basic training he joined the staff of the Argyll's Infantry Training Centre at their Stirling Castle Depot. He was promoted to be Corporal on 21 Oct 1940.
On 14 Nov 1940 he was posted to an Auxiliary Units Scout Section. It isn't clear exactly where he served. However, on 1 Jul 1941 he was promoted acting unpaid Sergeant to fill a gap in the war establishment. He was made a war substantive sergeant on 28 Dec.
O 6 Jan 1942 he was attached to the Border Sub Area and was based at St Boswells, presumably at Monkford House Stables. He had been sent to the Borders to help set up the new Borders area under Captain Peter Forbes, the newly appointed Intelligence officer. He ceased to be attached to the Border Sub Area HQ on 29 Mar 1943, instead drawing his rations from CRS Boswells. On 2 Oct 1943 he was awarded the Commander-in-Chief's Certificate for Good service.
Presumably he was among the Scout Section personnel invited to join the SAS at the start of 1944 and may have travelled to London for this. On 1 Feb 1944 he joined 1 SAS. He was promoted to Squadron Quarter Master Sergeant on 8 Jul 1944. He appears to have based at Darvel as part of the 1 SAS support organisation during this period. he did not take part in operations in France.
He was deployed to North West Europe as part of Operation Archway on 19 March 1945. Following the end of hostilities he returned to England briefly before being sent to Norway as part of Operation Doomsday, to disarm the German forces after their surrender.
After the SASC was disbanded he was briefly posted to 2 Parachute Brigade Depot before being discharged from the Army on 16 Jan 1946.
Service Record
LA Wylie
Ancestry UK
Greenock Telegraph 31 Aug 1944, 7 July 1987, 3 May 1988