From "The Longest Day" by Cornelius Ryan.
As the commandos touched down on Sword, Lord Lovat's piper,
William Millin, plunged off his landing craft into water up to his armpits. He could see smoke piling up from the beach ahead and hear the crump of exploding mortar shells. As Millin floundered toward the shore, Lovat shouted at him, "Give us 'Highland Laddie', man!" Waist-deep in the water, Millin put the mouthpiece to his lips and splashed on through the surf, the pipes keening crazily. At the water's edge, oblivious to the gunfire, he halted and, parading up and down along the beach, piped the commandos ashore. The men streamed past him, and mingling with the whine of bullets and the screams of shells came the wild skirl of the pipes as Millin now played 'The Road to the Isles.' "That's the stuff, Jock," yelled a commando. Said another, "Get down, you mad bugger!"
Incredibly, Piper Millin survived D-Day and the rest of the war; and in the 1961 film, "The Longest Day", he played himself!
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Great moments in piping #2: THE 79th HIGHLANDERS.
The 79th Highlanders were a New York regiment in the Civil War. When they were first organized, they patterned themselves after the Highland regiments of Scotland, complete with kilts. However, the reality of the war eventually saw them adopt the standard blue uniform of the Union troops. They were "Highlanders" in name only, until one day in the summer of 1863, during the Vicksburg campaign . . .
"We...have a new 'institution' attached to the regiment - nothing less than a Scotch 'piper' from Michigan, who joined us on our way down here. He has a full suit of the kilts and often so entertains us with his alleged 'tunes' on the pipes, that we have several times threatened to 'fire him out', and not allow him to perform again till he learns how."
from "The Seventy-Ninth Highlanders: New York Volunteers in the War of Rebellion" by William Todd (of Company B).
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Great moments in piping #3: A KISS OF THE KING'S HAND
In 1651...King Charles II held a review of the Scots Army at Stirling. There was a competition among the trumpeters, at which the King himself chose the winner, and then a competition among the pipers - or rather, there was no competition since [according to the Rev. James Fraser in his 'Wardlaw Manuscript'] "the Earle of Sutherland's domestick carried it of all the camp, for non contended with him. All the pipers in the Army gave John Macgurmen the van, and acknowledged him for their patron in chiefe".
Then at the review of the Army the King noticed all the pipers gathered together - "no less than 80 pipers in a croud bareheaded, and John Mcgyurmen in the middle covered", and on asking what was going on, he was told that the old man at the centre of attention was 'the Prince of Pipers'. Amused by this idea, the King called the piper by name, and allowed him to kiss his hand "and instantly [he] played an extemporanian part 'Fuoris Pooge i spoge i Rhi', I got a kiss of the King's hand; of which he and they were all vain."
Roderick D. Cannon, "The Highland Bagpipe and its Music".
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Great moments in piping #4: PIPER FINDLATER
Piper George Findlater of the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, was present at the
taking of Dargai heights in north west India from fierce Afridi tribesmen
who had managed to repulse the Dorsetshire Regiment, the Sherwood Foresters
and even the Gurkhas on October 20th, 1897.
Playing a favorite march, "Cock o' the North" (a title associated with the Duke of Gordon), Piper
Findlater rallied the Scottish soldiers, and when shot in both legs, crawled
across the ground to pick up his pipes and resume playing. The Gordons topped the heights and captured Dargai in 40 minutes and Piper Findlater was awarded the Victoria Cross.
The Victoria Cross at that time carried no financial reward. Findlater was discharged from the army, possibly on account of his wounds, and was persuaded by theatrical producers to appear on the music hall circuit re-enacting his Dargai role. Necessity eventually compelled him to accept. His appearance was greeted with acclaim by the public, but with consternation by military authorities, who felt that the Victoria Cross was being demeaned. As a result, an annual gratuity was introduced to accompany the award and Findlater left the stage to return to his family farm in Aberdeenshire, the home country of the Gordons.
In 1935 the Gordons changed their official march from "Highland Laddie" to "Cock o' the North," perhaps because of its connection to Dargai.
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Great moments in piping #5: PIPER CALLS TUNE IN MARCH AGAINST MUZAK
A pied piper, skirling through his repertoire of Scottish airs and trailing 30 demonstrators in his wake, burst into an Oxford Street department store and briefly drowned all conversation. He was leading a protest against another form of piped music, the pervasive background of electronic wallpaper that drips insidiously from loudspeakers in shops and other public places. Pipedown, a pressure group dedicated to exterminating the scourge of muzak, had gone militant. Mild-mannered and quietly spoken, the demonstrators formed up in The Moon and Sixpence, a Soho pub unusually but laudably opposed in principle to the dribble of electronic tunes . . .
The march from Soho to Dickens & Jones was not an unqualified success. Several passers-by stuck their fingers in their ears as "Scotland the Brave" approached, and at one stage the piper took a wrong turning into a blind alley. As they piped their way into the store, shop assistants froze, while shoppers scattered for cover and security staff discreetly picked up their mobile phones . . .
The piper struck up again, and the demonstration marched smartly towards a side door, distributing leaflets and reaching the safety of the pavement just as the store's burly security chief caught up with them. "Have you finished?" he asked, not impolitely. They had; a brief suggestion that they might go on to raid Laura Ashley was quickly overruled in favour of lunch . . .
Alan Hamilton, 11 Dec. 1998 (supplied by Kenny Bell).
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Great moments in piping #6: THE WANDERING PIPER
from the Magazine of American History, April 1883
About fifty years ago, a tall, stout, broad-shouldered Scotchman visited many places in New York State, giving addresses and playing his bagpipe, which secured for him the name by which he became distinguished as "the wandering piper." There was something mysterious in his movements and conduct. It was conjectured by some that he travelled on a wager. He seemed to be educated and was a skilled musician. I have his disguised autograph in the shape of a communication to the editor of a Brooklyn newspaper, with whom he had a controversy. It would be interesting to know the piper's object.
H. C. V. S.
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Great moments in piping #7: BAGPIPE LAWSUIT
from The Times of London, May 1, 1936
BAGPIPE PLAYING CASE
NEW BENCH TO ARBITRATE
An effort was made to reach a settlement when the Cheshire bagpipe playing case came before the Wirral magistrates at Birkenhead yesterday. Frederick Ainslie Eskdale Allan, of Barker Lane, Greasby, near Birkenhead, was summoned by three neighbours for creating "noise nuisance" by his playing. The summons alleged that Mr. Allan's playing constituted "an excessive, unreasonable, and unnecessary noise, capable of being mitigated, and injurious to health."
Mr. J. Roberts, for two of the neighbours, said it had been agreed by Mr. Berkson, for Allan, that the time for playing the pipes should be limited to not more than half an hour between 6.30 and 8.30 each night with the exception of Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. They were unable to agree as to the most suitable room in which the pipes should be played. It had been suggested that the box-room would be most suitable, but Allan would not agree to this, or to a further suggestion that the kitchen be used. The matter had therefore been brought before the Bench for arbitration.
The case was adjourned to a date to be fixed later with a view to a fresh Bench being formed to arbitrate.
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