Ellis Koder obituary

Ellis Koder was a proficient linguist who continued his studies into his 90s Photograph: provided by family

My father, Ellis Koder, who has died aged 102, was a commander in the 4th Indian Infantry Division who fought at Alamein during the second world war.

Ellis shared his memories of his war in North Africa, Burma and Sumatra in the BBC’s WW2 People’s War archives, and recorded more of his life story for his 100th birthday, writing, “Alamein was my war, my battle. I was there in the Eighth Army … and I remember it like yesterday.”

He was born and raised in the Paradesi community of Cochin, India, the oldest child of Rebecca (nee Roby), and Saul Koder, who worked in the family transport business. He went to Maharaja’s college in Cochin, before graduating from St Xavier’s college in Calcutta in 1940 with a degree in English with history, economics and sciences.

In June 1941 he was selected for officers’ training school, joining an infantry regiment renowned for their valour, the Rajputana Rifles. By the age of 22 he was company commander in charge of 100 men in the 4^th Indian division, the backbone of the Eighth Army.

At the end of the war, Ellis, by then a major, was stationed in Burma, holding Japanese prisoners of war. He remained in service until October 1946, when he was demobilised in the UK, arriving by ship that December. He found work in the clothing wholesale trade, first with the mail order company Great Universal Stores and then with Links of Glasgow, working to find alternative sales outlets for the company. By 1957 he was covering the whole of Scotland, and later north west England and London.

In October 1957, he met Brenda Brody at the Jewish Institute dance that followed the Yom Kippur services in Glasgow; they danced all night and were married that December. Together, they raised four daughters and lived in Didsbury. In 1968, Ellis and Brenda returned to Cochin to celebrate the 400^th anniversary celebrations of the Paradesi synagogue, an event attended by the Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi.

He retired gradually, in his late 70s. In his 80s and 90s, still deeply inquisitive, Ellis, a proficient linguist, attended history lectures at Manchester University, studied computing, French and Italian at the local Fielden Park college and wood carving at Parrs Wood school evening classes, and enjoyed overseas travel and visiting art exhibitions with Brenda.

Ellis’s younger siblings, Abe, Naphtali and Seemah predeceased him. He is survived by Brenda, by his daughters, Lesley, Sharon, Justine and me, and by nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.