Highlanders

[Kirkhill]

No everybody's favoured Infanteer, but we're a reasonably open lot ... if you bring the bottle.

Brilliant bossi,  the bible for everything Scots.

 

[the 48th regulator]

Seeing how all my decendents are Scandanavian and German, I think you guys are a bunch of wierdos.... :dontpanic:

with a last name like mine, i am more suited to the highlands of Naples!

But I do love my Bridies, especially the one from But 'N' Bens in pickering, or for a good soda or a vegatable rol the one up at Mcowan and Elsmere

tess

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Oh, and memorize the dialogue to the movie TUNES OF GLORY, and all us corporal pipers remembered with fondness the line (I believe Alec Guiness delivered it):

Not just any lassie gets to marry a corporal piper!

 

[bossi]

Oh, and memorize the dialogue to the movie TUNES OF GLORY, and all us corporal pipers remembered with fondness the line (I believe Alec Guiness delivered it):

Not just any lassie gets to marry a corporal piper!

Absolutely (and it provides a good demonstration of officers dance practice, too).

 

[Kirkhill]

And on the subject of pipers and MacAuslan, perhaps pbi can do me a favour while he's in the neighbourhood.  Could he check with some of the locals and find out what tune it was the Piper Findlater was playing on the Heights of Dargai?

I got a chuckle when the PPCLI were in Qandahar and CBC did a piece with a couple of Canadian pipers from the battalion.  The reporter said this was the first time that the sound of the pipes had likely been heard in Afghanistan...

They really don't teach enough history.

Cheers.

 

[BDTyre]

I got a chuckle when the PPCLI were in Qandahar and CBC did a piece with a couple of Canadian pipers from the battalion.   The reporter said this was the first time that the sound of the pipes had likely been heard in Afghanistan...

They really don't teach enough history.

Cheers.

Maybe they meant western bagpipes, and even then its not true.  The Brits were in Afghanista in the 1840s, the 1870s (I could be wrong on that one) and 1919.  I'm sure they had at least one piper....

 

[pbi]

Going Home (Dvorak) on the pipes
(at funerals, especially)

That is, without any doubt, one of the most moving pieces of music I have ever heard. Other tearjerkers I can think of:

"The Last Post" (band, piper and trumpeter with the hymn interspersed with the lone trumpeter);

"I Vow To Thee My Country" (Choral); and, of course

"Amazing Grace" (done well.....) During Farewell to Calgary in 1997 we staged this on Rifles Field at Currie Barracks. We started with a single piper on a tower, worked up to four massed bands, then back to the single piper. Not a dry eye in the place.

Anybody got any other real choker favourites? Cheers.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

"Amazing Grace" (done well.....) During Farewell to Calgary in 1997 we staged this on Rifles Field at Currie Barracks. We started with a single piper on a tower, worked up to four massed bands, then back to the single piper. Not a dry eye in the place.

Didn't it rain like a bastard after that parade?  I think I was there (the lone piper was Joel Rhodes IIRC).  I remember driving my Willy's home in the rain after that one; those old 49s are great for visibility normally but are shit for driving in rain when you don't have windshield wipers and are wearing Highland ceremonial kit.....

 

[pbi]

Didn't it rain like a ******* after that parade?  I think I was there (the lone piper was Joel Rhodes IIRC).  I remember driving my Willy's home in the rain after that one; those old 49s are great for visibility normally but are crap for driving in rain when you don't have windshield wipers and are wearing Highland ceremonial kit.....

Actually, the tempest broke during the Tattoo, which preceded the Retreat Ceremony later in the evening. As DCO I was the Evil Brain for FTC, along with the very hard work of the rest of the battalion and "friends".  During the Tattoo, I was watching the thunderheads build up and come closer. We decided to go ahead with the show, but things began to get dicey when lightning started getting closer. We managed to get through some of the more lightning-vulnerable stuff such as the Calgary Fire Department Rappel Demo, but then a bit later the typhoon hit, hard. Reluctantly, we had to shut the Tattoo down. Sadly, we lost much of the capacity crowd (we had the Crowchild Expressway backed up all the way to the Bow River). That was depressing, seeing them all drive away.

We waited out the storm, then we went ahead with the Retreat. Then, the most amazing thing happened....I swear. The storm rolled away, and an absolutely beautiful sunset began to descend on the Rockies, forming a natural backdrop to the Retreat. The lightning from the retreating storm was flickering over the mountains--it was almost eerie. The mountains were lit by the sunset. The Retreat went beautifully and with a very dramatic backdrop. I will never forget it.

It was almost like The Big Guy was saying: "Ok-just kidding---here you go...have a good one!" And we did.
Cheers.

 

[bubba]

and don't forget, us highlanders are hard bastards,with a sence of humor,helps us deal with  you main landers.                     buaidh.no.bas to the decendents of the highland clearances,raise a glass to the past.now im getten all emotional,going to the tavern for a drink and a brawl,then i'll come home an have a good cry..... hahaha

 

[the 48th regulator]

We have beutiful painting in our officers mess, if i can find on the net I will upload it.   It depicts the Gordon Highlanders (U.K) storming the Heights of Dargai.   There is a very interesting paragraph about a piper, which is also in the painting;


The Storming Of The Dargai Heights


'Twas on the 20th of November, and in the year of 1897,
That the cheers of the Gordon Highlanders ascended to heaven,
As they stormed the Dargai heights without delay,
And made the Indian rebels fly in great dismay.

"Men of the Gordon Highlanders," Colonel Mathias said,
"Now, my brave lads, who never were afraid,
Our General says ye must take Dargai heights to-day;
So, forward, and charge them with your bayonets without dismay!"

Then with a ringing cheer, and at the word of command,
They bounded after their leaders, and made a bold stand;
And, dashing across the open ground with their officers at their head,
They drove the enemy from their position without any dread.

In that famous charge it was a most beautiful sight
To see the regimental pipers playing with all their might;
But, alas! one of them was shot through both ankles, and fell to the ground,
But still he played away while bullets fell on every side around.

Oh! it must have been a gorgeous sight that day,
To see two thousand Highlanders dressed up in grand array,
And to hear the pibroch sounding loud and clear
While the Highlanders rushed upon the foe with a loud cheer.

The Gordon Highlanders have gained a lasting fame
Which for ages to come will long remain :
The daring gallantry they displayed at the storming of Dargai,
Which will be handed down to posterity.

Methinks I see that gallant and heroic band
When brave Colonel Mathias gave them the command,
As they rushed upon the rebel horde, which was their desire,
Without the least fear through a sheet of fire.

Then the rebels fled like frightened sprites,
And the British were left masters of the Dargai heights;
But, alas! brave Captain Robinson was mortally wounded and cut down,
And for his loss many tears from his comrades fell to the ground.

Success to the Gordon Highlanders wherever they go.
May they always be enabled to conquer the foe;
And may God guard them always in the fight,
And give them always strength to put their enemies to flight.[

Cheers

tess

 

[BDTyre]

The funny thing is that apparently several other highland units at the Dargai Heights had challened the Gordons' claims, with some units suggesting it was their regiment, not the Gordons that stormed the heights.

 

[the 48th regulator]

first i have heard of that claim, guess since it was a time when photography was but a fantasy, and real time reporting really didn't exist, anyone can try to claim what they wish.

tess

 

[Kirkhill]

I'm with Tess on this one, as far as I understand it the taking of Dargai Heights was a Gordon affair.   I am looking for more solid proof.   So far all I can offer is this....http://regiments.org/wars/19thcent/88indnw.htm   which shows that the Gordons were at Dargai in 1897.   That doesn't mean that other regiments weren't there, they probably were.

By the way, that "regiments" site is great place to start looking for histories on your own and allied regiments.

 

[dutchie]

Okay, so Bossi corrected me a number of posts ago, but I had to check...did I actually say "Highland Kiss"?!?!?!

Uh, Oops! I guess i did...

Good eye, Bossi.

(I'm a little embarrassed.)
:-[

Another enjoyable thing unique to a highland regiment:

Having a Regimental toast no one (including the toaster) understands, only a few can recite, and takes a couple of weeks to train the non-Gaelic tongue to learn.

 

[Rfn]

Okay, so Bossi corrected me a number of posts ago, but I had to check...did I actually say "Highland Kiss"?!?!?!

I understand a "glascow kiss" means to head-butt someone?  ;D

 

[BDTyre]

The Gordons' certainly had their role at the Heights glorified.   I think what happened is that other Highland regiments present felt the glorification of the Gordons belittled their own roles more than anything.

Realistically, we'll probably never know the whole story.

 

[Art Johnson]

Hey "Jimmy" you got that right.

 

[the 48th regulator]

The Gordons' certainly had their role at the Heights glorified.  I think what happened is that other Highland regiments present felt the glorification of the Gordons belittled their own roles more than anything.

Realistically, we'll probably never know the whole story.

We realistically probablly won't know the story but what's with the "Gordon Highlanders being glorified" comment???  They did it period.

tess

 

[BDTyre]

Blackwood's magainze had a report published in 1898 about the Gordons.  "[L]etter from rival regiments at the front have tended to belittle the first...reports by the...correspondents," so much so that "f, it was rapidly argued, the Gordons did not take Dargai, the ought to have done so, and could have done so."

So really, it doesn't matter.  But there were obviously those at the time that felt they to played an important role....  Its probably just typcial regimental rivallry.