Mary Anderson (British Army officer)

Mary Mackenzie Anderson February 3, 1916 - June 18, 2006 (as she was during her military career, later Brigadier Dame Mary Pihl)[1] [2] served with the Women Auxiliary Territorial Service, the forerunner of the Women's Royal Army Corps during World War 2. By 1946 she was ATS Group Commander Highland District based in Perth and, discovering she enjoyed service life, decided to make it her career.

She was the daughter of Sir John Anderson, later the 1st Viscount Waverley, who was Home Secretary and Minister for Home Security at the outbreak of war. She was educated at Sutton High School and the Villa Brillantmont in Lausanne.

She joined the ATS in 1941 and was commissioned the following year. On leaving Perth in 1946, she undertook her first speciality work within the WRAC as assistant provost marshal (WRAC) responsible for WRAC disciplinary matters for the British Army of the Rhine and in the UK.