Published on 31 May 2025
5 minutes read
A man has been reunited with priceless Second World War documents that belonged to his hero father that were found hidden at the back of a drawer 18 years after he died.
L-R – Sandy Rodger and Martin Reid with the folder at the War Memorial Chapel at St Cuthbert’s Parish Church in Edinburgh.
The green folder contained letters, maps and photographs and was found by the Lanark man just weeks before the 80th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) on 8 May.
He leafed through the contents and surmised that they once belonged to Ian Rodger, who was an elder at Wellington Church of Scotland in Glasgow before he died in 2007 at the age of 91.
Mr Reid turned to the Church’s communications department for help and it published an appeal story to try and track down Sandy Rodger, the war veteran’s only child.
The story was widely picked up by media outlets across the UK and Sandy Rodger, who lives in Rye on the south coast of England, was made aware of it the morning it was published and contacted the Church offices in Edinburgh.
He said he is “hugely grateful” to Mr Reid and met him in Edinburgh yesterday to thank him personally and collect the folder.
Ian Rodger grew up in Glasgow and served with 2 Squadron of the 6th Armoured Division Signal Regiment, a unit of the British Army, and fought in Italy and Tunisia.
He held the rank of Captain and features in a photograph with Major Jack (John) Profumo, who later became a member of the House of Commons and was forced to resign after triggering a major political scandal in the 1960s.
Letters, photographs and maps were discovered in a folder wedged behind a drawer in this desk 18 years after Second World War veteran Ian Rodger died.
After he was demobilised, Ian Rodger practiced as a solicitor, co-founded Scottish Opera and devoted himself to the Scouts as well as Wellington Church.
Sandy Rodger said he had a collection of his father’s old papers and letters from the war but revealed he has never seen the contents of the folder before.
“Martin Reid’s kind return of my father’s old Second World War papers served, oddly enough, to put right a small consequence of a much more recent crisis – COVID-19,” he explained.
“In January 2021, with my 90-year-old mother Isabel’s health fast deteriorating, I travelled from home in Sussex to Glasgow to help her move into a care home.
“Under lockdown rules this allowed little time for preparation or even a proper goodbye, and then I was left with less than two days to clear her flat, trying to preserve the memories of her own and my father’s long and rather remarkable lives.
“In the process I missed a folder of papers which had fallen behind a desk drawer, and, but for Martin’s kindness and initiative, they would have remained lost.
“I am hugely grateful to Martin and to Cameron Brooks from the Church for their detective work, and to the multiple people who saw articles about the appeal and got in touch to let me know.
“The papers add to a fascinating collection of letters maps and photos, telling the story of the 8th Army’s advance through North Africa, Italy, and into Austria in the last three years of the war, defeat of the Germans turning into the race for Berlin which shaped Western Europe for the next 50 years.
“The perspective of a signals officer, constantly on the move, keeping troops connected to their command, offers an amazing overview of the conflict.
“There isn’t much mention of the human cost of the war, and my father never really spoke of this, perhaps typically.
“But it’s a proud and detailed account of an extraordinary endeavour, told by a young man who, with the benefit of hindsight, survived and could be said to have had a “good war”.
Captain Ian Rodger is pictured in the second row, third person in from the left while Major Jack Profumo is pictured in the back row, standing in front of the door.
Mr Rodger said his father was inspired to help found Scottish Opera in the 1960s after enjoying performances in wartime Naples, Rome and Venice.
“Martin’s find includes a series of post-war letters showing the difficult transition back to peacetime – individuals returning to ‘civvy street’,” he added.
“Dad described his own ambivalence to his legal work and for the world at large, with the Cold War starting and lingering conflicts continuing after VE and VJ (Victory over Japan) days.
“The sense I have is that the war changed Dad, and changed the course of his life, perhaps galvanising him into action as a leader in multiple areas of Scottish society, as well as making him a wonderful, if rather unusual, father.”
Sandy Rodger said is “hugely grateful” that the Church and Mr Reid tracked him down to return his father’s Second World War papers to him.
According to his obituary, Mr Rodger was made an MBE for his wartime service and an OBE for services to Scouting – he was a former training commissioner for Scotland.
In addition to being a partner in a Glasgow law firm called Brechin Robb, he also lectured in accountancy law at the University of Glasgow.
Mr Rodger’s widow Isabel died in February 2023.
Emotional
Rev Richard Baxter, minister of Kelvin West Parish Church, confirmed the Rodgers were members of what was known as Wellington Church.
Mr Reid bought the desk from McTear’s Auctioneers in Glasgow in March 2021 for £110 and used it regularly over the years at his home, only discovering the mysterious folder by sheer chance.
He said he is delighted to have been able to reunite Sandy Rodger with his father’s papers.
“This was a story that certainly captured the imagination of many people and Sandy got in touch with the Church the morning the article was published, which was rather astonishing given he lives on the south coast of England.
“The maps, letters and photographs are utterly fascinating and provide a really important insight into the British Army’s involvement in the Italian Campaign against Adolf Hitler’s Germany.
“Sandy is a lovely guy and very proud of his father and it was very moving seeing his reaction as he leafed through the folder and shared anecdotes.
“The sole reason for bringing this story to light was to try and track down Ian Rodger’s son and return the documents to him and I am very pleased that we have done that.”