Digby Willoughby (bobsleigher)

Lieutenant Colonel Digby Jeremie Willoughby MC MBE (4 May 1934 – 27 February 2007) was a soldier and sportsman, one of a two-man bobsleigh 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

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.

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 2007
• Last Word, BBC Radio 4, 9 March 2007