David Neild, the youngest British soldier to serve in the Trucial Oman Scouts, and who led the Ras Al Khaimah Defence Force, passed away in the UAE on Tuesday, February 11, night after suffering from a lung disease. He was 81.
A long-term resident of UAE, Neild was 21 when he first arrived in the UAE to serve in the British Security Forces or Trucial Oman Scouts as they were called, from 1959 to1961.
“I was the youngest British officer ever to be seconded from the British Army to the Trucial Oman Scouts. I was looked on as a bit of an oddity. I was so young, and I didn’t speak a word of Arabic.
Neild, who authored the book ‘A solider in Arabia’ in 2016, had the rare privilege of sharing a close relationship with the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan.
“I used to go hunting with him. He was a wonderful person. With him, you realised immediately that you are in the presence of a very special person. He had a charisma about him, and he was interested in everything you had to say,”.
