Lieutenant Colonel Digby Jeremie Willoughby (4 May 1934 – 27 February 2007) was a soldier and sportsman, one of a two-man
bobsleigh
Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...
team that broke the world record in 1961. He later became chief executive of the
St Moritz Tobogganing Club, a position he held for 24 years, fiercely guarding its traditions, which he saw as part of the last truly amateur sport.
Early life
Digby Jeremie Willoughby was born in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, the son of an officer of the Bombay Grenadiers and the
Indian Political Service. He was educated at
Blundell's School
Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the t ...
in
Tiverton and the
RMA Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...
. He was commissioned into the
2nd Gurkha Rifles
The 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Indian Army before being transferred to the British Army on India's independence in 1947. The 4th Battalion joined the Indian Army as the 5th Ba ...
and joined the 1st Battalion in Malaya in 1955.
During his early leaves from the
Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The ter ...
Willoughby began to ride bobsleigh runs, and in 1961 his two-man team broke the world record on the St Moritz Bob run and was in the British contingent at the
World Games
The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...
at
Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1962. He had also started riding the single toboggans at the
Cresta Run
The Cresta Run is a natural ice skeleton racing toboggan track in eastern Switzerland. Located in the winter sports town of St. Moritz, the run is one of the few in the world dedicated entirely to skeleton. It was built in 1884 near the haml ...
in
St Moritz
St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...
in 1958 and was a member of the Army Cresta team in the 1960s and 1970s.
Military career
In 1962 Willoughby's battalion was ordered to
Brunei
Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...
, where the
Brunei Revolt had broken out. Willoughby, with a small party of Gurkhas, rescued
Omar Ali Saifuddien III
Sultan Sir Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien ( Jawi: ; 23 September 1914 – 7 September 1986) was the 28th Sultan of Brunei, reigning from 4 June 1950 until his abdication from the throne on 5 October 1967.
He was also Brunei's fir ...
, the
Sultan of Brunei, from his palace and earned the Sultan's long-lasting gratitude. Willoughby was
mentioned in dispatches for his actions.
During the
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation in 1963, arising from
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n attempts to destabilise the newly formed
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, increasing incursions by Indonesian forces in the eastern Malaysian states of
North Borneo and
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...
, resulted in
General Walter Walker, the director of Borneo operations (also an
Old Blundellian), receiving approval to carry the campaign to the enemy by secretly crossing areas of the 1,000-mile border to launch offensives against the Indonesian bases.
In 1964 Willoughby, then a major in command of "A" Company, was instructed to mount one such operation. On 4 September he and his company were lifted by helicopter to the Sabah-Kalimantan border and, the next day, guided by a village headman, they set off across the border into
Kalimantan. Two days later the Gurkhas became embroiled in a battle with Indonesian forces and carried the four enemy positions one after the other with minimal casualties before fighting off a counter-attack. The Indonesians withdrew with considerable losses in men and equipment and Willoughby was awarded an immediate
Military Cross
The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries.
The MC ...
.
He subsequently completed a tour as the company commander of Ypres Company at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst during which time the eldest son of the Sultan he rescued, Hassanal Bolkiah, was an officer cadet. Willoughby commanded his battalion from 1972 to 1975.
Later life
Willoughby took early retirement from the Army and from 1978 combined work as an auctioneer’s representative with that of secretary and chief executive of the St Moritz Tobogganing Club, an appointment which he held for 24 years and which he had coveted ever since his early runs down the Cresta.
Willoughby was appointed MBE in 2002. He died at St Moritz, the day before he was to watch the Willoughby Cup, which he founded.
References
Obituary of Lieutenant Colonel Digby Willoughby, The Daily Telegraph, 7 March 2007Last Word, BBC Radio 4, 9 March 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willoughby, Digby
1934 births
2007 deaths
People educated at Blundell's School
Royal Gurkha Rifles officers
Recipients of the Military Cross
Members of the Order of the British Empire
British male bobsledders
Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
British Army personnel of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation