THE COVENANTER
Cliff Pike, the BM, wishing to be humorous,
pointed his baton at the railway lines behind In the case of Scottish Regiments - even up
the bandstand and said: I am waiting for a to the present, and more so in wartime it has
train or trains to pass,” I recall saying to proved impossible to maintain the proper
him: ‘’Have you got a timetable,” establishment by reliance on recruitment
Qur final concert took glace in Princes’ St from Scotland alone. Until 1968 excluding
gardens in Edinburgh. We could hardly the Scots Guards, there were no less than
believe five Highland and five Lowland Regiments,
the size of the crowd, for all the seats in and until 1948, each having two Regular
the enclosure were full and people were Battalions. Casualties could not be replaced
standing in large numbers around the from Scotland alone the additional demands
perimeter. Although the crowd appreciated upon Scotland of The Royal Navy and the
our playing, we knew that they were not Royal Air Force, apart from other branches
there to hear us. As soon as we played off, we of the Army, made this impossible.
noticed that Jimmy Shand and his Scottish Many members of expatriate Scottish
Country Music Band were about to replace families opted to serve with a specific
us on the stage. Scottish Regiment either as Regular Soldiers
Back in Lanark we had just a week to prepare or in Units of the Territorial Army , such
for our Kneller Hall Inspation when our as The London Scottish or Tyneside and
abilities as a parade band, a concert band, Liverpool Scottish. Others joined on the
a dance band, a choir, or anything else we recommendation of friends. It was by these
would like to present, would be examined routes that many soldiers found their way to
and graded. Svedsen’s Carnival in Pais the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). However
was the piece we were told to rehearse in in wartime, when Regiments needed to be
advance. The hardest task fell to the B/Sgt made up to strength, postings often were
who, without made quite arbitrarily, purely on the basis
rehearsal, was asked to conduct a piece of the exigencies of the circumstances.
neither he nor we had played before. It was in this latter way that towards the
Having conclusion of the Second World War, I
completed successfully the continuous found myself an ‘Attached’ Cameronian.
playing of a long summer tour, we had the Despite, the undoubted misgivings which
confidence to play well enough to be awarded must have accompanied the arrival of so
an outstanding grade. For me it was like the many, and often by no means fully trained
Lost Chord because I was soon on my way reinforcements, and the serious concern
to the RAPC to exchange my musical notes that our many errors caused, I am proud to
for the figures on the acquittance rolls.. have been one of that number.
Bill Coughlan
For Regular Soldiers of pre war standing and
On Behalf Of ‘The Attached’
indeed for Territorial’s who had
considerable wartime service, and thus were
In an earlier edition of the Covenanter
steeped in Regimental tradition, the
shortly after the 1939/45 War, an article
influx of involuntary Cameronians, at
written by an ‘Attached’ Officer, appeared
first, must have been traumatic. This must
under the title ‘Thank You For Having
have been the case, particularly in the
Me’. In the final edition of the Regimental
later stages of the 1939/45 conflict, as the
Journal, it would be remiss, some sixty years
supply of fully trained reinforcements
onward, and even after the Regiment has
began to run dry. After the end of the on
disappeared from the Army List, if a further
German Blitzes on Britain, many Royal
tribute to the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
Artillerymen who had manned the guns
did not appear under the name of another
of the Country’s aerial defences became
of that number.
surplus to requirement, and formed an ideal
pool of reserve for conversion to infantry.
Every Regiment in the British Army holds
Many were not the most willing of converts.
itself proud of its peculiar traditions and
A short conversion course was all that was
background, and in its time through force
possible given the urgency to fill vacancies,
of circumstances has numbered in its ranks
which were occurring with alarming speed
many members of other Regiments. Equally,
among regiments of the line.
it is true to say that there have been successes
and failures.
My own arriival as a Cameronian had
80
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