Major-General James Alexander Deans Johnston, OBE, MC (28 February 1911 – 17 May 1988) was a senior British Army officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps and the Senior Medical Officer at the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp towards the end of the Second World War.
A docudrama portraying his experiences attempting to save the starving and diseased concentration camp prisoners at Bergen-Belsen was made in 2007 entitled The Relief of Belsen.
[13] Under the command of Brigadier Glyn Hughes, he was Senior Medical Officer[2] and director of the Camp II's 17,000 bed hospital.
[14] He was once more posted abroad between 1949 and 1952, serving as Deputy Director of Medical Services at the Headquarters of Middle East Land Forces.
In 1961, he returned to England to take up the appointment of Assistant Director General of the Army Medical Department at the War Office.
[2] He was appointed Director of Medical Services, Far East Land Forces on 18 November 1966,[17] and promoted to major general.
[3] Johnston was awarded the Military Cross (MC) on 10 December 1937 "for distinguished services rendered in the field in connection with the operations in Waziristan, during the period 25 November 1936 to 16 January 1937".
[7] He was Mentioned in Despatches on 10 May 1945 "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North West Europe".
[23] He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 18 October 1945 "in recognition of distinguished services during the liberation of prisoners in German Concentration Camps".