greetings from the far south

[Mike_Oettle]

For general information (BoldHighlander and I have already started an exchange about military uniforms) I served in First City, which is based in Grahamstown.
The regiment had a kilted company (Highland Company) during the last quarter of the 19th century, but was kiltless from 1910 to the mid-1930s, when the Marquess of Graham (later Duke of Montrose) became honorary colonel.
The regiment had previously worn Graham of Montrose tartan. At his request, it went entirely into kilts. It retained its motto and its lapel badge. The Montrose crest became the regimental bonnet badge. Officers wore Balmoral bonnets, the men tam o’shanters.
The regiment had no band of its own when I belonged to it, but used the services of school cadet bands from detachments affiliated to it.
The affiliated schools were St Andrew’s College, Kingswood College and Graeme College (all Grahamstown) and Queen’s College, Queenstown.
I liked it best when the St Andrew’s band played for us, since that school had the only school pipe band in the Eastern Cape. They wore the same tartan as us, and their headgear (apart from the drum major) was navy blue glengarry bonnets diced in white and pale blue.
The master in charge, Chris Terry, has several times held the world piping championship.
The regiment was mobilised during the Second World War, but did not see action until the seizure of Madagascar (on behalf of the Free French). In landing on Madagascar, First City took part in the only marine landing that South African forces (per se) have been part of. (Individual South Africans were present at the Normandy beaches, but only as part of British units.)
In 1943 all the country’s regiments were short of recruits (there was no conscription), and a number were (temporarily) amalgamated into fighting battalions. First City and the Cape Town Highlanders formed the FC/CTH, which fought in Italy from Monte Cassino to the Greve.
The Witwatersrand Rifles (the only SA regiment wearing trews) was merged with the De la Rey Regiment of the Western Transvaal to form the Wits/De la Rey, known informally as the Royal Boers, which also fought in that campaign.
The Natal Carbineers, in which my father served, was fortunate in having two peacetime battalions. Merging them produced a fighting unit which made up the third infantry element in the 6th South Affrican Armoured Division.
My father was wounded north of Florence; his unit also went through to the Greve.
During the time of FC/CTH a pair of silver statuettes was made, showing a kneeling South African soldier in khaki shorts and shirt, wearing a tammie. The First City and CTH officers’ messes each received one statuette, which are still part of the regimental silver.
Regards,
Mike

[dfmacliam]

Hello and welcome from Texas! I, also, have some Huegnot background (from Ireland). I am told that we had some family, who served down in your country, during the Boer War.

[Mike_Oettle]

Hi, Peacekeeper – King Louis XIV should hang his head in shame. When he banned Protestantism in France, he effectively destroyed the economy, and boosted those of every country his people fled to!
Some settled in the Channel Islands, some in Ireland, a large number in England. They also went to the Netherlands, Germany and the North American colonies.
And those who came to the Cape had a significant influence on the culture of South Africa.
In Germany, everyone speaks High German (the official language) and a local dialect. The dialect is usually some form of High, Middle or Low German, but in one town the dialect is 17th-century French – it is a Huguenot town.
Regards,
Mike

[Kiltman]

Welcome from Eastern Washington State USA.