Tartans of Canada's Highland Regiments

[macwilkin]

Mike,

I have no proof of it, but your theory certainly stands to reason. The US Marines stationed in Northern Ireland and Iceland brought back a number of traditions associated with the British Army; in the case of the former, a Marine Pipe Band was formed in 1942-43 (although no Highland kit) and in the latter, the Marines brought the traditions and customs of "Mess Night", which has become the American "dining in". The 1st Fleet Marine Force had quite a few exchanges with the Tyneside Scottish and other British units stationed in Iceland, and even adopted the "Polar Bear" formation sign the 49th Infantry Division. My great-uncle Robert served as a Navy Corpsman with the Marines in Iceland, btw.

My own grandfather gained a love of piping and the military music of the British Army due to his experiences in India with the US Army Air Force during the Second World War. Whenever a Scottish regimental band was touring in the US, and they happened to have Phoenix/Sun City as a venue, he and my grandmother would always go (and send me a tape and program) -- he loved the Black Watch, and said their '89-90 tour was one of the best he had seen. I daresay that many "GI Joes" were exposed to piping in the way my grandfather was.

T.

Some fascinating information there. Many thanks to all who contributed (Todd in particular).

And my commiserations, Terry, on your nephew’s near-tragedy. Glad to know he is safe and sound.
And good luck with your training for a new career. Does the term technician indicate that you will be servicing X-ray machines?

I wonder whether the US 6th Army acquired a pipe band through General Mark Clark’s association with pipe bands during the Second World War.
I have mentioned in a post somewhere on XMTS that the South African 6th Division was transferred from the British 8th Army to the US 5th, under Mark Clark, shortly before the liberation of Rome.
Included in the 6th Div was a kilted unit, the First City/Cape Town Highlanders. The fighting men of this battalion were in ordinary uniform for the Italian campaign (khaki shorts in summer, battledress in winter) but it did have a pipe band attached (likely to have been made up entirely of Cape Town Highlanders in Gordon tartan). When off duty, the fighting men wore tammies (the CTH officers had blue glengarries diced in red and white, the FC officers khaki balmorals), but in the line they wore tin hats.
A tank regiment, Prince Alfred’s Guard, was also part of 6th Div. It has a pipe band nowadays (and it has armoured cars, not tanks), but I couldn’t tell you whether it had pipers in the 1940s.
There was also a (British) Guards brigade (will have to look up which one) with the 6th Div at one point. I cannot recall whether the Scots Guards were part of it, but it would also have had its pipe band in tow.

And in closing, I was aware of the Maple Leaf tartan, but was not aware of its military status. The Scottish Register of Tartans calls it a district tartan, and classifies Maple Leaf Dress also as district.
Maple Leaf Blue is noted as having been adapted for “Ontario School”, but the chaps in Edinburgh aren’t sure whether this was for a school of that name, or simply a school in Ontario.
Regards,
Mike

[Lallans]

The Maple Leaf tartan is worn by the Pipes and Drums of the Royal Canadian Regiment:

http://www.theroyalcanadianregiment....eaf_tartan.htm

I don't believe the tartan was developed by them, nor is it of course exclusive to them. I would wager that the 'Ontario School' thing comes from the fact that one or more high schools have adopted it for use in their school uniforms. Catholic high schools of course normally have their girls in kilt skirts (not men's kilts, kilt skirts).

Edit: took out Maple Leaf Kirkin' item to start a new thread.