Lovat Scout and gamekeeper; Born April 1, 1920; Died July 5, 2007.

DONALD MacKenzie, who has died aged 87, was a Second World War veteran whose experiences in high-risk covert operations with the elite Lovat Scouts during a critical phase of the campaign in Italy made him a near-legendary figure.

He joined in May, 1939, four months before Britain declared war on Germany, and he was part of the garrison sent to the Faroe Islands to prevent a German invasion, before going for intensive mountain training in the Cairngorms, Snowdonia and the Canadian Rockies.

Addie MacKenzie, a close friend and one of around a dozen surviving ex-Lovat Scouts in the Highlands, recalled the tough training they endured in preparation for the crucial task of driving the German army out of Italy.

He said: "We were ski troops as well as fighting soldiers, something we learned on the Athabasca glacier way up in Alberta and it was certainly no holiday. After that we were dispatched into the Italian mountains and there was serious fighting going on there at the time, with the German troops under the command of Field Marshall Kesselring.

"Donnie did a lot of patrols into no-man's-land as the Germans were retreating. These were long-distance patrols to let us know if it was safe for the rest of us to proceed. There were usually just a couple of men in the patrol and it was extremely high-risk. You had to be very brave and very fit to do it and Donnie measured up on both counts."

In 1946 he returned to his beloved Wester Ross, initially to work in the burgeoning Forestry Commission plantations which in those days employed considerable numbers of men.

Within a few years he became gamekeeper on the 62,000-acre Applecross Estate, where he remained until retirement in 1983.

MacKenzie was born at Coire Domhainn, deep in the wilds between Attadale and Killilan, where his father was a stalker. The family was soon to move to the even more inaccessible Iron Lodge, almost 10 miles from the nearest settlement at Killilan. Both places are nowadays part of the vast acreage owned by the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

It was too much to expect the young MacKenzie to walk to and from school at Killilan every day, so the family moved to the relative metropolis of Achnashellach when he was seven. School at Balnacra was now only two miles away and the sight of trains entering and leaving Achnashellach station made for exciting times for a youngster newly arrived from the isolation of Strath Duilleach.

Natives of these glens are seldom known by their first names and surnames, and MacKenzie was no exception. He was known far and wide as Donnie Russel because of his long post-war association with the area in the Applecross foothills called Riseail in Gaelic, derived from the old Norse for mare field.

MacKenzie's early years at Russel were idyllic and the home he shared with Chrissie, whom he married in 1950, stood alone above Loch Kishorn and beneath the famous Bealach nam Bo (Pass of the Cattle). The land was in his blood and MacKenzie seemed to know the name of every rock and stream, every flower and shrub, in English and in Gaelic. He was a man of many talents, with a knack for story-telling and writing poetry. He played shinty for Lochcarron until his mid-fifties, long after it was customary to hang up one's caman.

MacKenzie was regarded as the best rifle shot for miles around, a skill undoubtedly honed during his time in the Lovat Scouts and his retiral from Applecross Estate was not by any means the end of his days on the hill. His reputation was such that any estate would jump at the chance to take him on during the stalking season.

"I got to know him later in life and he used to regale me in the bothy at Ben Dronaig with wonderful stories about his days in the Lovat Scouts," said Ewen MacPherson, owner of Attadale Estate.

"He was an astonishingly good shot with the rifle and was regarded among local stalkers as the best around. I'm told he won a trophy for shooting when he was in the Lovat Scouts and you could only manage that if you were exceptional. Donnie was rather a legend and everybody respected him. He grew up at a time when life was really tough and he belonged to a generation that is fast disappearing. Even when he was with us and well up in years, he could still walk a man half his age off his feet."

That physical fitness continued well into MacKenzie's retirement, but some six years ago he was struck by Alzheimer's disease and had to be cared for in nursing homes at Strathgarve and, latterly, Inverness, where he died.

He was for many years an elder of the Church of Scotland in Lochcarron, where his funeral took place.

He is survived by Chrissie, daughter Florence, son Christopher, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.