Major Norman MacLeod MBE (63) and Sergeant Major Instructor Ian Moar (58), from 1st Battalion The Highlanders’ Western Isles Company were recently received presentations recognising their service to the Cadet Forces, at a Company Training Weekend held in Benbecula last weekend.
Major Macleod was presented with the 5th clasp for the Cadet Force Medal which recognises 42 years of service to the cadets, and SMI Moar was presented with the Cadet Force Medal which recognised 12 years of service. The Cadet Forces Medal is awarded to all officers and uniformed Adult Instructors in recognition of long service of proved capacity in the Cadet Forces. The medal is awarded after 12 years service to the Cadet Forces, with an additional clasp for every 6 years of further service.
Major MacLeod has been a volunteer with the organisation since 1978, having been a former cadet himself. Norman started his career as an Adult Instructor with Back Detachment, where he was there for 13 years and in 1991 was appointed as the Company Commander of Western Isles Company Commander, a position he has now held for the last 30 years. As well as his Company responsibilities, Major MacLeod is also the Battalion’s First Aid Officer training both Cadets and his fellow Adult Volunteers in First Aid Qualifications – from the British Heart Foundation’s Heartstart courses for cadets to First Aid at Work Courses for Senior Cadets and Adult Instructors. For his services to the Cadets, Norman was named a MBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours lists.
SMI Moar, who is the Detachment Commander of Benbecula and Daliburgh Detachment, has been part of the Battalion since April 2010, where joined as an instructor with Daliburgh. In April 2011, Iain temporarily transferred to Benbecula Detachment to assist the cadets of the detachment and to understand the inner workings of being in charge of a Cadet Detachment for him to take over at Daliburgh – which he did in October 2011.
Both instructors received their presentations by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the Western Isles, Alasdair MacEachen.
