Quote Originally Posted by Coemgen View Post
The power of pipes as instruments of war is well documented. Many a piper has saved his unit from certain destruction. Stories though embellished over time, have portrayed pipers in combat capable of inspiring colleagues to untold feats of courage.

Thus this tale:

On the sun-beaten badlands in northwest India during the late 19th century, a ragged platoon of Highlanders seeks cover from sun small arms fire. Their young English officer, Webley revolver in one hand and a broadsword in the other, assesses the situation crouched behind a boulder. A few feet away lies his Sergeant Major. Both are keenly aware of the intended goal. A well-defended enemy fortification constructed of granite-hard, sun baked mud, a scant 400 yards distant must be taken.

The young officer rubs his eyes free of grit, and addresses his NCO: “Good God Sergeant Major! How can we seize that position with only 12 riflemen and a single piper?” The grizzled Sergeant Major, veteran of countless battles, unsheaths his bayonet and deftly locks it into place with a barely audible click.

In an assuring voice he answers, “Och! Dinna worry yoursel’ sir. Corporal MacDonnell's a verra good piper.”
In a similar vein, reportedly during the Italian campaign of the Second World War, a young Canadian subaltern sent this request to his battalion CP:

"Need reinforcements for rescue. Send six tanks or one piper."



T.