Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 131 continued ... Pipers of the 25th Battalion were often dispatched to rallying points along the line, to enable them to pipe their tired companions back to the rest camps behind the lines. In those instances where companies were split up during marches it was customary for the band to be split with two or three pipers and a drummer or two to lead individual companies. Some pipers opted to rejoin their companies and take part in the fighting for short durations, such was the case with David Brand (b. 1879), an immigrant Scot to Halifax who had served one year as a piper with the Gordon Highlanders before he immigrated to Canada. Brand had been a tailor in Halifax when he enlisted in the 25th Battalion in May of 1915 but due to his age he was evacuated back to England within two years. 25th Battalion (The fighting 25th) Nova Scotia had already contributed men to several Canadian units with the outbreak of the First World War. One of the first infantry units raised in Nova Scotia was the 25th Battalion CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force). Organised at Halifax in 1914, it had recruiting centres at Amherst, Sydney, Truro and Yarmouth. It was part of the much touted ‘citizen’s army’ Canada was preparing to send to fight in Europe. The ranks of the 25th Battalion consisted mostly of farmers and fishermen, tailors and tradesmen from a variety of ethnic groups including English, Acadians, lowland Scots, and descendants of highlanders who settled in the province in the first half of the 19th century. A few of the recruits had basic military training with local militia battalions such as the 94th Regiment (Cape Breton) and the 78 Pictou Highlanders and 63rd Rifles on mainland Nova Scotia. These men were part-time soldiers, training one night a week augmented with a two-week summer camp dedicated to military drill and war craft as it was practiced in the post-Boer War period. The 25th battalion was not raised as a Highland unit, but because of the number of native Nova Scotian Gaels among its ranks, it held a strong attachment to the Highland tradition and from its very beginning this included a pipe band. In April 1918 a plebiscite was held among the NCOs and men that passed overwhelmingly in favour of re-designating the battalion as the 25th Highland Battalion (Nova Scotia) and for permission to, like members of the pipe band, wear Highland dress. Things move slow in the army, of course, and the war ended before any official action could be taken to re-name the Battalion or authorise the wearing of kilts. Nova Scotia had a close affiliation with the music of the pipes well before war was declared in 1914. It was remarked by an officer of the 85th Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders during the war that in Nova Scotia, “pipe music was the favourite form of entertainment … the people preferring it to all other kinds of music.” The 25th Battalion had both a brass band and a pipe band, and at its height its ranks swelled to 16 pipers and eight drummers. The brass band was not so lucky and it was broken up in England before the unit was sent to France, its members sent to the ranks, or were attached to the pipe band as drummers and buglers. Casualties had been high during the war and many soldiers (and pipers) rotated through the battalion from other sections of the Canadian corps. The benefits of highland bagpipe music on the morale of soldiers and its ability to banish fatigue in the Canadian army, is best summed up by Robert N. Clements, an officer with the 25th Battalion in his memoir, Merry Hell. “The men quickly came to realize that for marching purposes on the road over long distances, the slower rhythm of the pipe music was much easier to move by than the quicker tempo of a regular brass band. For ceremonial duty on the parade ground, the short quick step of 180 to the minute with a brass band was very effective. Even when slowed down to 100 to the minute on the line of march it could just about kill you over a long distance under full load. Against this the cadence of the pipes at about eighty to ninety a minute enabled men to use a longer and easier rolling stride with much less muscle strain. Over the years, under active combat conditions, it became clearly recognized that behind the pipes entire battalions could cover ground faster, for longer distances, and arrive at their destinations in better physical shape than by any other means”. The Scottish connection The original pipe band consisted of both native Nova Scotians and ex-pat Scots then living in both Halifax, NS and the United States. Since the United States was not yet at war, a handful of Scottish pipers from the Boston area traveled north to Nova Scotia to enlist for overseas duty. Mike MacDougall (b.1891) was originally from Lewis Bay West, Cape Breton County. He was descended from immigrants from Morar, Scotland, he was the first piping instructor for the MacDougall Girls Pipe Band of Dominion, Cape Breton in the 1950s. The band, which lasted for over 40 years was named after Mike and as a further honour, the band wore the MacDougall tartan. continued ...
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