0:00:14 > 0:00:16Fort George,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18headquarters of the Black Watch,
0:00:18 > 0:00:21the Third Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
0:00:23 > 0:00:24Halt.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30The day begins, as it always does, to the sound of the bagpipes.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33HE PLAYS
0:00:44 > 0:00:48For 300 years - in peace and in war -
0:00:48 > 0:00:51the pipes have punctuated the lives of Scottish soldiers.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55Tunes of glory,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58of inspiration
0:00:58 > 0:00:59and of remembrance.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Today, the Army piper has a role rich in history and pageantry.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10But 100 years ago
0:01:10 > 0:01:13the Army piper had a role simply beyond belief.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26In the Great War, pipers would rise, unarmed, from the trenches.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30In defiance of machine guns and shells,
0:01:30 > 0:01:35in defiance of any notion of self-preservation,
0:01:35 > 0:01:37they would stand straight
0:01:37 > 0:01:39and play their comrades into battle.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47More than 2,500 pipers served.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Almost half were killed or wounded.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Men from Scottish battalions raised all across Britain and her Empire.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01Men of inconceivable bravery.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03The pipers of the trenches.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15The seaside town of Blyth,
0:02:15 > 0:02:1715 miles north of Newcastle.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25I haven't seen these since I was tiny.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34Katy Hall and her grandfather, John Wilson, have family ties
0:02:34 > 0:02:38dating back to the Great War Pipers of the Tyneside Scottish Regiment.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43It's amazing to think that they were the pipes
0:02:43 > 0:02:44that your dad played during the war.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47HE SIGHS
0:02:47 > 0:02:49A bit stiff? Pop that bit there.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54Katy's great-grandfather, also called John Wilson, played these
0:02:54 > 0:02:59very pipes onto the battlefield on the first day of the Somme -
0:02:59 > 0:03:02the bloodiest single day in British military history.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06My grandad's father was a Pipe Major
0:03:06 > 0:03:08and his father was a Pipe Major,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10obviously during the war.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13And my grandad's father's brothers
0:03:13 > 0:03:16were also Pipe Majors, as well.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19- That's the mouthpiece. - The mouthpiece.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21That's the chanter.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24'It was just kind of one of those family things to do.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28'It was important to them. You know, it was a big part of their lives.'
0:03:32 > 0:03:36Three of Katy's ancestors played at the Somme,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40and Katy's become fascinated with their individual stories.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48When I was...probably about 12,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51I noticed a briefcase at my grandad's house, my grandparents',
0:03:51 > 0:03:53and it was just full of old things.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56'I was fascinated. It was old photographs,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59'old documents, old newspaper articles.'
0:04:01 > 0:04:04And there's your grandad again.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08- So it is.- He's definitely playing the pipes on that one, isn't he?
0:04:08 > 0:04:09SHE LAUGHS
0:04:09 > 0:04:10'You feel like you know them,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13'even though they were there way beyond your years.'
0:04:14 > 0:04:18Katy has studied her family history for years,
0:04:18 > 0:04:20but one ambition remains.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26'I would love to visit France,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29'visit the battlefield where everything took place.'
0:04:31 > 0:04:35For somebody to be able to show me what the pipers actually did there.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40'Knowing my ancestors were there,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43'you know, just to get an idea of what went on.'
0:04:49 > 0:04:52From the beginning of the war in July 1914
0:04:52 > 0:04:54to its end in November 1918,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57over five million men served in the British Army.
0:04:59 > 0:05:00Hundreds of battalions...
0:05:01 > 0:05:05..of which around one in seven belonged to the Scottish tradition.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Some with kilts,
0:05:09 > 0:05:10but all with pipers.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17They are there to perform the traditional role of the piper
0:05:17 > 0:05:19in the Scottish regiment -
0:05:19 > 0:05:20playing on the march
0:05:20 > 0:05:23and playing duty tunes during the day,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26but, ultimately, there is the idea that, in battle,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29they will play to encourage the men forward.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34As a new piper in a new Army battalion, you were entering
0:05:34 > 0:05:36a well-established tradition.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39On the one hand, you would look back
0:05:39 > 0:05:42to the well-known musicians and composers,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45because there is a very strong tradition of that
0:05:45 > 0:05:47in the Scottish regiments, as well,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50but also looking back to the traditions of playing in battle
0:05:50 > 0:05:51and being wounded in battle.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Which is not something new -
0:05:53 > 0:05:55it's not something that starts happening in the First World War -
0:05:55 > 0:05:57this goes back...
0:05:58 > 0:06:02The famous ones would be Piper Clarke at Vimiera in 1808
0:06:02 > 0:06:06in the Peninsular War against the French - the wounded piper plays on.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09In 1898, the north-west frontier of India,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12the Heights of Darghai - which is a famous pipe tune, as well -
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Piper Findlater of the Gordon Highlanders,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18wounded, carries on playing.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22It's something that everyone would have known about.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29The new Scottish regiments first came to the battlefields
0:06:29 > 0:06:32of France in the spring and summer of 1915.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39Their first major battle took place in the flat farmland
0:06:39 > 0:06:41surrounding the little mining town of Loos.
0:06:43 > 0:06:44There are huge numbers of Scots.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47This is the particular thing about the Battle of Loos.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52You had two Scottish divisions in the assault on the first day,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55but also Scottish battalions throughout all the other divisions.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58So the estimate is there's something like 30,000 Scotsmen
0:06:58 > 0:07:01on the field of battle at Loos.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06And from that battlefield would emerge a truly legendary figure.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11A Scottish military icon -
0:07:11 > 0:07:12the Piper of Loos.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Kevin Laidlaw's great-grandfather, Piper Daniel Laidlaw,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25was perhaps the most famous Scottish soldier of the First World War...
0:07:28 > 0:07:31..and Kevin's come back to the National Museum of Scotland
0:07:31 > 0:07:32to renew his acquaintance
0:07:32 > 0:07:35with his great-grandfather's most prized possession.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41His Victoria Cross -
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Britain's highest military honour.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50One of two Victoria Cross awards to pipers during the First World War.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54Only two, and the other one was to a Canadian.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59That one's in Canada, so when you and your family decided that you
0:07:59 > 0:08:02wanted to donate the medals to the National Collection, that was a...
0:08:02 > 0:08:05I think the expression would be we bit your hand off!
0:08:08 > 0:08:12The story of how Piper Laidlaw won his medal ranks among the most
0:08:12 > 0:08:15celebrated stories of Scottish military history.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22It begins on the morning of the 25th of September, 1915,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26with the first ever use of poison gas by the British Army.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33The gas was released from cylinders for about 20 minutes, half an hour.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40But the critical thing here was that the weather changed
0:08:40 > 0:08:44so the gas, instead of going out to the battlefield, it was actually
0:08:44 > 0:08:48coming back into the trenches and gassing the Allied soldiers.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52In those days, as you can imagine, they'd have very primitive gas masks.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56And also, you can imagine, nobody wanted to go over the top,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58so the line didn't move.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05Kevin's great-grandfather appeared as himself in the 1928 film
0:09:05 > 0:09:09The Guns Of Loos, recreating the events of that day.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16Lt Young shouted, "For God's sake, Laidlaw, do something!"
0:09:16 > 0:09:19So he struck up his pipes,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22went over the top playing Blue Bonnets Are Over The Border,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25the regimental march of the King's Own Scottish Borderers,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27the battalion he was attached to,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30and it was only then that the line started to move
0:09:30 > 0:09:31and the men went over the top.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38He played until he was shot in the legs
0:09:38 > 0:09:41and actually managed to get back to the trench.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44The men actually captured Loos that day
0:09:44 > 0:09:46and made some significant advances.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49With men falling all around us in the trenches...
0:09:49 > 0:09:53In a filmed interview from 1934, Piper Laidlaw gave his own account
0:09:53 > 0:09:57of the day to military historian Sir John Hammerton.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00It gives me a thrill to find you've brought
0:10:00 > 0:10:02the famous Pipes of Loos with you, Laidlaw.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Never go anywhere without them, sir.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08I played them over the top and went right on through the first line
0:10:08 > 0:10:11of German trenches, on to the second line, where I was bowled over.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16Will you play us the tune with which you piped the boys over the top?
0:10:16 > 0:10:18Yes, sir.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21HE PLAYS: "A' The Blue Bonnets Are Over The Border"
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Laidlaw's tune,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30A' The Blue Bonnets Are Over The Border,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35was written in the 18th century to celebrate the Jacobite Uprising.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39But, after Loos, this tune of ancient rebellion would be
0:10:39 > 0:10:42forever associated with one man's act of bravery.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49'Every time I play it, you know, I just think of Piper Laidlaw
0:10:49 > 0:10:54'and the exploits and all the men that went over the top that day'
0:10:54 > 0:10:59and coming to the museum today and seeing the medals, again,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02just kind of brings that all back
0:11:02 > 0:11:06and it does make me feel quite proud to have a relative
0:11:06 > 0:11:10who was awarded the Victoria Cross in such a Scottish way, if you like.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Here's a piper doing what pipers are supposed to do -
0:11:13 > 0:11:15lead the men into battle.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20But also it's an insight into the horrors that was World War I
0:11:20 > 0:11:24so it makes you really think about that as well.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32Laidlaw was one of around 200 pipers who played at the Battle of Loos.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36And, of that 200, around 50 were killed.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43There were many, many acts of gallantry
0:11:43 > 0:11:49and Piper Laidlaw's courage is not in question here,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52but I think it was symbolic. I think, you know, there were
0:11:52 > 0:11:55numbers of pipers killed,
0:11:55 > 0:11:57but I think that the idea of the wounded piper
0:11:57 > 0:12:02playing on, having that resonance in the Scottish tradition,
0:12:02 > 0:12:06that's what made it something that people latched onto.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Even more than other Victoria Cross winners,
0:12:08 > 0:12:10he became a symbol of something.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15And the British were not alone in using the powerful image
0:12:15 > 0:12:18of the unarmed piper storming into battle.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23Here's something else from 1915.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25This is a German commemorative medal.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27It's a very, very different image.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31This is a Scottish piper as the figure of death.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33You can see the death's head, the skull there.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38You see different versions of this motif of the dance of death,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41but it is interesting that, in 1915, one of the images
0:12:41 > 0:12:45that the artist here chooses is a Scottish piper
0:12:45 > 0:12:50and I think that's got something to do with the German awareness
0:12:50 > 0:12:52of the Scottish presence at Loos
0:12:52 > 0:12:54and the casualties that had been inflicted.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07In the Summer of 1916, a year after Loos, the Allies again
0:13:07 > 0:13:10attempted to break the stalemate in northern France...
0:13:11 > 0:13:17..with the biggest British military operation of this or any other war -
0:13:17 > 0:13:19the Battle of the Somme.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25On the first day of the Somme,
0:13:25 > 0:13:27the 1st of July, 1916,
0:13:27 > 0:13:3020,000 British soldiers lost their lives.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38And in the epicentre of the battle, around the village of La Boisselle,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42the men of the Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish
0:13:42 > 0:13:44were piped towards the German guns.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Among the pipers were three of Katy Hall's ancestors.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55And, for Katy, this is her first visit to the battlefield.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01I really don't know what to expect, to be honest!
0:14:01 > 0:14:05As I said, it's something that you kind of read about in books
0:14:05 > 0:14:07or you watch movies about.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09But it's not something that you
0:14:09 > 0:14:12generally have an opportunity to experience.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16You know, it's not going to be until I actually stand there
0:14:16 > 0:14:19and see it for myself that I will know.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Katy's great-grandfather, his father and his uncle
0:14:36 > 0:14:40all played the pipes into battle on these French fields.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50You're standing right in the middle of the Somme battlefield here.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55- The battlefield itself was 25 miles long.- Really?
0:14:55 > 0:14:58And you had almost three quarters of a million men waiting to attack
0:14:58 > 0:15:00on the 1st of July.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02It was the biggest battle that's ever been fought
0:15:02 > 0:15:04in British military history,
0:15:04 > 0:15:06and you're pretty well on the front lines here,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10where your great-uncle and great-grandfather would have served.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13The Tyneside Scottish attacked across this valley
0:15:13 > 0:15:15and the one on the far side of La Boisselle.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17Behind them, you had the Tyneside Irish,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20who attacked over the tops of these hills.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23But, of course, when they appeared over the top of the hill, the Irish,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27they became silhouetted against the sky - perfect targets.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33- The German front line is where those houses were.- Right.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35So that's the distance they had to cross here,
0:15:35 > 0:15:37at walking pace,
0:15:37 > 0:15:38in the sunshine,
0:15:38 > 0:15:43under machine-gun fire and artillery fire.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45It... It's... You can't even imagine,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48I can't even imagine what it would have been like.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50Well, I've spent my entire life studying this
0:15:50 > 0:15:52- and I can't imagine it.- No.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56I couldn't even imagine one second of being here,
0:15:56 > 0:16:00having to get out of a trench, even if you are exhorted by pipers.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06My great-grandad, he went from one end to the other,
0:16:06 > 0:16:07completely unscathed,
0:16:07 > 0:16:12but his uncle was shot several times, pretty much immediately.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15So I can't get to grips with the fact that they were both
0:16:15 > 0:16:17there at the same time, yet one of them was completely unharmed
0:16:17 > 0:16:19and the other one wasn't.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22And obviously they would have been both at the front.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25They would have been standing in a trench, a very deep trench,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27waiting for the whistle to blow.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30We don't know when the pipes would have started
0:16:30 > 0:16:32but they would have started probably before the attack
0:16:32 > 0:16:35in order to...to get the blood charged, really,
0:16:35 > 0:16:37because these men had to go and do things
0:16:37 > 0:16:40- which doesn't come easily to a human being.- Definitely not, no.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42They had to kill in any way possible,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45to terrorise those men into submission.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47PIPES ECHO
0:16:52 > 0:16:56For the Germans, as they got closer,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59the pipers were as important as knocking over an officer.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04If you take out the officers, you take out the command sequence.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07If you take out the piper, you take out something else,
0:17:07 > 0:17:08something spiritual almost.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11- They would have become a target, as well.- Yeah.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23- It's difficult to overestimate the importance of the pipers.- Yeah.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28To kindle that collective spirit, the regimental spirit.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30And that's what the... That's...
0:17:30 > 0:17:32After the Brigadier had said all his speech,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34it was up to the...
0:17:34 > 0:17:36It was the sound of the pipes.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38And as long as that piper could be heard
0:17:38 > 0:17:41amongst the crashes and explosions,
0:17:41 > 0:17:45still piping across no man's land, that pulled people forward.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Tremendous power in that sound.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56On that first day of the Somme,
0:17:56 > 0:17:58the noise was quite literally deafening.
0:18:00 > 0:18:041,500 British artillery pieces fired a quarter of a million shells.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Underground explosions
0:18:09 > 0:18:11could be heard in England.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18There are no known audio recordings of the Great War
0:18:18 > 0:18:20so could the latest technology,
0:18:20 > 0:18:26combined with meticulous research, build an accurate audio picture
0:18:26 > 0:18:29to discover how the bagpipes might have sounded
0:18:29 > 0:18:33against the backdrop of Britain's biggest ever battle?
0:18:33 > 0:18:35EXPLOSIONS
0:18:35 > 0:18:36Sounds a little bright
0:18:36 > 0:18:40so we can just take some of the high frequencies out of that,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44which will give us a distinct impression of...
0:18:44 > 0:18:47First World War historian Michael Stedman has come to
0:18:47 > 0:18:50the Digital Design Studio at the Glasgow School of Art.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54SHELLS WHISTLE, EXPLOSION
0:18:57 > 0:19:00I'm just wondering whether or not in the sort of...you know,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04- the first part of this...- Yeah? - ..we could actually have
0:19:04 > 0:19:10- the sounds of artillery even...- Sooner.- ..sooner.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14'Well, the principle thing that every historian is concerned with'
0:19:14 > 0:19:18is making sure that we're talking about veracity and accuracy.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20This is what we want.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22So I've referred to a number of sources,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26principally, the battalion war diary, or intelligence summary.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29I've also referred to the official histories.
0:19:29 > 0:19:30EXPLOSION
0:19:30 > 0:19:34'Primary sources, principally, or eyewitness accounts,
0:19:34 > 0:19:37'written and compiled by people who were there.'
0:19:37 > 0:19:41Michael has studied all the weaponry deployed at the Somme,
0:19:41 > 0:19:45when exactly it was used, and how exactly it sounded.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48- I think we're talking about a Stokes mortar bomb.- OK.
0:19:48 > 0:19:54- And they produced a rather sort of bass, flat...- Thudding sound.- Yes.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56THUDDING EXPLOSIONS
0:19:58 > 0:19:59- A bit more drawn-out than that.- OK.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01'I have a mental image'
0:20:01 > 0:20:02of what I'm going to hear
0:20:02 > 0:20:06but, at the moment, I'm just desperately looking forward
0:20:06 > 0:20:08to hearing what this is going to sound like.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13- After you, Michael. - Thanks very much, Paul.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26EXPLOSIONS, GUNFIRE, SHOUTING
0:20:33 > 0:20:36'Forward!'
0:20:36 > 0:20:38SHOUTING, GUNFIRE
0:20:44 > 0:20:46LOUD EXPLOSION
0:20:47 > 0:20:50'Run for your bloody life and kill them!'
0:20:50 > 0:20:51RECORDING FADES OUT
0:20:53 > 0:20:54HE SIGHS
0:21:02 > 0:21:06I mean, that actually...hurts.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08It is just...
0:21:10 > 0:21:11It's painfully real.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Paul had placed the sound of a lone piper in the mix.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23But amidst the hellish cacophony of the first day of the Somme,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25it was almost impossible to hear.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29Throughout this, the pipes appear.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32I'll play you the pipes in this section now
0:21:32 > 0:21:34and you can tell me if you hear the pipes,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36now that you're aware that they are there.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39It should be about five seconds or so before these pipes come in.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42LOUD RUMBLE OF EXPLOSIONS, GUNFIRE
0:21:46 > 0:21:48WHIZZ OF SHELLS
0:21:49 > 0:21:51You can't hear.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55- But they are there. - EXPLOSIONS CUT OFF, PIPES PLAY
0:21:55 > 0:21:57I'm just soloing the track,
0:21:57 > 0:21:59which is quite close and quite loud.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02EXPLOSIONS, GUNFIRE DROWN OUT PIPES
0:22:05 > 0:22:09At its height, the intensity and scale of the battle
0:22:09 > 0:22:12would have obscured the sound of the pipes.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Shells, huge shells, landing close by.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Machine gun fire.
0:22:20 > 0:22:26The bullets hitting metal objects, shredding people, shredding wood.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28The pipes become indiscernible.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32On that first day of the Somme,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36soldiers might well have lost contact with the sound of the pipes
0:22:36 > 0:22:40but what remained was the sight of the piper,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43walking forward, unarmed,
0:22:43 > 0:22:44into the hell of battle.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52EXPLOSIONS, GUNFIRE, SHOUTING
0:22:55 > 0:22:56'Forward!'
0:23:12 > 0:23:14SOUNDS OF WAR FADE OUT
0:23:16 > 0:23:18That was horrible.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20SHE SIGHS
0:23:20 > 0:23:22That was awful.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28It's the legacy of all this which these men have got to cope with.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Even those who were not wounded, like your great-grandad,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33who got through the war unwounded -
0:23:33 > 0:23:36what was he carrying with him for the rest of his life?
0:23:38 > 0:23:41What visions did he see every single day of his life
0:23:41 > 0:23:43as a result of this one day?
0:23:47 > 0:23:50- It's horrible.- Mm.- That's awful.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Three of Katy's ancestors played at the Somme.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Two survived.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Her great-uncle, Garnet Wolsley Fyfe,
0:24:06 > 0:24:07was killed on the first day.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20"Lance Corporal Garnet Wolsley, 23rd Tyneside Scottish Battalion,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24"Northumberland Fusiliers, 1st of July, 1916, aged 36..."
0:24:24 > 0:24:28Born in Edinburgh, the youngest of ten children,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Garnet's family had moved to the Northeast of England
0:24:30 > 0:24:32soon after the death of his father.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37And, like his father, Garnet became a miner
0:24:37 > 0:24:41and, in 1906, he married a local girl, Rachel Burrows.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46They had one child, a boy - Ronald.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Katy has long collected his letters and photographs,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55but this is her first visit to Garnet's grave.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09I just knew that he was a miner,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12married, had a child,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14and was a piper.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19It's nice to be able to see it, instead of just a photograph.
0:25:21 > 0:25:22It's lovely.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28Having photographs and documents
0:25:28 > 0:25:31and knowing where those people lived and what they did,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34and knowing that they never went back to it,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36you know, knowing that they had a normal life,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39with children and family, to never go home to that...
0:25:40 > 0:25:41..it's sad.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50Four battalions of the Tyneside Scottish had gone into battle...
0:25:51 > 0:25:55..with 26 pipers, of whom 20 were killed or wounded...
0:25:57 > 0:25:59..pipes in hand.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12And when the guns fell silent,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15pipers would write tunes in honour of their fallen comrades.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20PIPES PLAY: "The Battle Of The Somme"
0:26:28 > 0:26:30The Battle Of The Somme was one such tune.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36Perhaps the greatest pipe tune of the war,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39composed by a lowly-born Highland quarryman,
0:26:39 > 0:26:40Pipe Major Willie Lawrie.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46HE PLAYS: "The Battle Of The Somme"
0:27:01 > 0:27:02Lovely tune.
0:27:06 > 0:27:12Willie Lawrie, his music has a very distinctive stamp
0:27:12 > 0:27:13and it may be that
0:27:13 > 0:27:15that's because he came from
0:27:15 > 0:27:19the Gaelic community of Ballachulish on the West Coast that it has that
0:27:19 > 0:27:22link back into the musicality of Gaelic song.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24PIPES PLAY
0:27:26 > 0:27:29It is really the instrument of
0:27:29 > 0:27:33celebration in the clan chief's hall and so forth,
0:27:33 > 0:27:35or in the villages in the countryside.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42I don't think the outside world is perhaps conscious of
0:27:42 > 0:27:46how special that relationship between the bagpipe and the Highlands is.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53The Highland pipers of the Great War,
0:27:53 > 0:27:55men like Willie Lawrie,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57were a connection to what had been left behind.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02To home, to family,
0:28:02 > 0:28:03and to better times.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07HE PLAYS UP-TEMPO SONG
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Griogair Lawrie is a descendant of Willie Lawrie
0:28:18 > 0:28:20and a student of his life and work.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29'He was very aware of his position in the Army
0:28:29 > 0:28:32'as someone who was able to give'
0:28:32 > 0:28:35the guys - who must have been very, very low in spirit
0:28:35 > 0:28:40and missing home so much - a wee bit of heart
0:28:40 > 0:28:42and a wee bit of home while they were away.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45And there were other boys here, from Ballachulish, with him.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47I think they really all stuck together
0:28:47 > 0:28:50and he and his music were a big part of that.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04Lawrie spent a year in the trenches...
0:29:07 > 0:29:10..in action at Ypres and Festubert.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16He died in November 1916.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22Killed, not by bullets or bombs,
0:29:22 > 0:29:24but by an infection.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27A victim of the squalor and filth of the Great War.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40It was a very sad thing for everybody in the village, and beyond.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44He was recognised nationally as a treasure, musically, you know.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49If he'd gone on to live until old age,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53think about the music he could have produced.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05MUEZZIN CALLS
0:30:07 > 0:30:09In what was the first WORLD war,
0:30:09 > 0:30:13pipers played far beyond the trenches of northern France.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20Glasgow drama teacher Richie McColm has come to Western Turkey
0:30:20 > 0:30:23with Stuart Allan of the National Museum of Scotland.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30Richie hopes to uncover the story of his great-grandfather,
0:30:30 > 0:30:33Piper Kenneth McLennan,
0:30:33 > 0:30:35an almost forgotten ancestor.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41He was up in the north of Scotland
0:30:41 > 0:30:43and he moved to Clydebank,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46to work for Singer, I think. That's all I really know.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50I do know that he plays the bagpipes or he piped.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53And I know that he piped in the war.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Military service records reveal that McLennan
0:30:58 > 0:31:01enlisted in the Highland Light Infantry in the May of 1914.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08He was then 29 years old and gave his occupation as labourer.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13A year later, he left Glasgow and his wife, Lizzie, behind,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16and boarded a troopship
0:31:16 > 0:31:17headed for Gallipoli.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27The opportunity to go over to Gallipoli
0:31:27 > 0:31:29to find out what happened over there
0:31:29 > 0:31:31would help me to really connect with the story
0:31:31 > 0:31:34and perhaps connect with my family history.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39On the 5th of July, 1915,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42Richie's great-grandfather landed on this very beach.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49I think this is the remains of a monitor,
0:31:49 > 0:31:53a small boat that's part of the ferrying of men and supplies.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00McLennan's regiment, the 7th Highland Light Infantry,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03had come to reinforce the main British landings.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08All part of an ambitious, and perilous,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Allied plan to establish a sea route to Russia.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18- They came in at night. - At night-time?
0:32:18 > 0:32:20Yeah, cos it wasn't safe on the beach.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24I mean, the landings had taken place here in April
0:32:24 > 0:32:27but the beaches were still a very dangerous place to be.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29The front line wasn't terribly far away.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32You know, and these guys had never been in action before.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34They're right into it cos as soon as you're on the beach
0:32:34 > 0:32:35you're in danger of shellfire.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Piper McLennan and the men of the Highland Light Infantry
0:32:45 > 0:32:48moved inland, a mile north of the beach.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54The conditions they found here, at the British rest camp,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57were squalid and diseased.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04I mean, you see the ground here, it's very hard to dig in this soil.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07There would be thousands of men here,
0:33:07 > 0:33:09sleeping in kind of scraped-out holes,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12and if they were lucky they had a waterproof cover over the top.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16And if you think about the sanitation and everything,
0:33:16 > 0:33:20that number of people in one place that you had to deal with.
0:33:20 > 0:33:21And flies.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24All the accounts of people's experiences in Gallipoli,
0:33:24 > 0:33:28they talk about this plague of flies.
0:33:28 > 0:33:33So you've got dysentery and enteric fever. It's kind of constant.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38What would a piper's role be here?
0:33:38 > 0:33:42The piper is going through what everyone else is going through.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45Music in the rest camp, I guess, was an option,
0:33:45 > 0:33:47and the pipes might have played at certain times of day,
0:33:47 > 0:33:50but, like the rest of them, he was essentially waiting to do his job,
0:33:50 > 0:33:52cos his job was up there.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57The vineyard is where? The vineyard...
0:33:57 > 0:33:59- Yeah, this way.- Back that way.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02Working with specialist guide Izzet Yildirm,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06Stuart and Richie are attempting to find the Allied front line.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Richie doesn't yet know that his great-grandfather,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15Piper McLennan, would emerge from a battle in these Turkish fields
0:34:15 > 0:34:17as a decorated military hero.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25So this is...12th of July now,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29so he's been here for a couple of weeks.
0:34:29 > 0:34:35And this is the brigade going into the front for the second time.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37And what happened?
0:34:37 > 0:34:42Well, the objectives that they had been set
0:34:42 > 0:34:44was to capture three lines of Turkish trenches,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47- which are just over there, where we walked.- Uh-huh.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50The problem was that the third trench didn't actually exist.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53It was a mistake. There was something there
0:34:53 > 0:34:55but it wasn't a properly dug-out trench.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59They went forward in waves and the first wave,
0:34:59 > 0:35:02which your great-grandfather would have been in,
0:35:02 > 0:35:06was detailed to capture the third trench.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10So the whistles blow and everyone gets up out of their trench
0:35:10 > 0:35:14and your great-grandfather, as a piper, starts to play
0:35:14 > 0:35:19and plays the charge and they move forward in that direction there,
0:35:19 > 0:35:20into machine-gun fire.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25And...a lot of people were killed early on.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34It's a very confused picture
0:35:34 > 0:35:37but they got across the two lines of trenches
0:35:37 > 0:35:40- and then they kept going for this third trench...- That didn't exist.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42- ..which didn't really exist.- Right.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45So when they got to, basically, a succession of shell holes
0:35:45 > 0:35:49they tried to hold it but they couldn't.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54He kept playing the charge, people, I guess, falling, dying all around him.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56And he kept playing the charge until, effectively,
0:35:56 > 0:36:01- I think a shrapnel burst blew the tops off his bagpipes.- Right.
0:36:01 > 0:36:08So, when he could play no more, he then reverted roles and started
0:36:08 > 0:36:13evacuating the wounded and bringing them back here to the British line.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16- For that...- So he just kept on going back and forward with...
0:36:16 > 0:36:18And bringing in the wounded.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21This was noticed in all the melee that was going on
0:36:21 > 0:36:24so afterwards he was recommended for a gallantry decoration,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27which he got. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal
0:36:27 > 0:36:32for playing until he was able to play no longer and then,
0:36:32 > 0:36:36exposed to enemy fire, bringing his wounded comrades back.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40- So he did pretty well. - He DID do pretty well.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46That's pretty impressive. I didn't... I didn't know that at all.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52About half of the 7th HLI,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55about 500, were killed or wounded
0:36:55 > 0:36:57but the other half made it through
0:36:57 > 0:37:00and your great-grandfather was one of them.
0:37:00 > 0:37:01And the only...
0:37:01 > 0:37:06It's quite depressing. I was reading about exactly what happened here
0:37:06 > 0:37:09and there's not a lot positive to draw from it,
0:37:09 > 0:37:13but the one kind of positive thing is actually the kind of resilience
0:37:13 > 0:37:19- and, I guess, the courage of the guys who...who had to do it.- Yeah.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24That's the one thing that comes out that you can take something from.
0:37:24 > 0:37:25There's not much else.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33I think, see, after being told that, it's almost like I've got this
0:37:33 > 0:37:37sort of heroic...silhouetted figure.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39I just can't imagine the idea of...
0:37:41 > 0:37:44..everybody else is running about with guns
0:37:44 > 0:37:46and this guy's standing in the middle of a field
0:37:46 > 0:37:48wi' a set of bagpipes.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55I'm sure he was one of many young men who fought for their country,
0:37:55 > 0:37:58who bravely looked after and saved other people around him
0:37:58 > 0:38:01and took them back to the trenches to offer support and help, you know,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04so he's one of many
0:38:04 > 0:38:07but I feel really proud to be a part of that one person.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16Six months after Kenneth McLennan piped his men into battle,
0:38:16 > 0:38:17the Allied forces withdrew.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22The Gallipoli campaign had been a total failure.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28In less than a year of fighting and disease,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30half a million men,
0:38:30 > 0:38:33both Turkish and Allied, were killed or wounded.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42MAN READS IN TURKISH
0:38:48 > 0:38:52Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey,
0:38:52 > 0:38:54had led the defence of Gallipoli.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58In poignant reconciliation, he wrote...
0:38:59 > 0:39:02"You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries,
0:39:02 > 0:39:04"wipe away your tears.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08"Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10"After having lost their lives on this land,
0:39:10 > 0:39:12"they have become our sons, as well."
0:39:16 > 0:39:18Some people there were 16 years old.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22You know, some of the people who fought here
0:39:22 > 0:39:24are the same age as the people I teach.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37And, back home in Scotland, on Glasgow Green,
0:39:37 > 0:39:39Richie has found a memorial
0:39:39 > 0:39:42to the men of the 7th Highland Light Infantry
0:39:42 > 0:39:45and to the great-grandfather he's only just come to know.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51Coming back and talking to my pupils about it or talking to
0:39:51 > 0:39:54my colleagues about it and actually telling about it,
0:39:54 > 0:39:58some people actually felt quite, sort of, proud themselves
0:39:58 > 0:40:01and emotional at me speaking to them about what was going on,
0:40:01 > 0:40:04so it made me think a lot more about my history
0:40:04 > 0:40:07and a lot more about my family's history.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12To be able to stand in the position that my great-grandfather
0:40:12 > 0:40:15was fighting, it's been a phenomenal experience.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23A century after McLennan's heroics at Gallipoli,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26the British Army continues to train its young soldiers
0:40:26 > 0:40:27in the art of piping.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34These volunteers have come from regiments near and far
0:40:34 > 0:40:37to the Army School of Pipes and Drums, just south of Edinburgh.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43Today, at the passing out parade, they become pipers.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46Part of a living military tradition.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48PIPES PLAY A MARCH
0:40:59 > 0:41:00They follow in the footsteps
0:41:00 > 0:41:04of men like Laidlaw, Fyfe, Lawrie and McLennan.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12In today's wars, these soldiers may never leap from the trenches
0:41:12 > 0:41:14and play their pipes into battle...
0:41:15 > 0:41:18..but the Army retains its steadfast faith that the sound
0:41:18 > 0:41:23of the pipes can inspire soldiers into great and heroic achievements.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30So what would happen if science tested that faith?
0:41:30 > 0:41:32That's good. We're going to...
0:41:32 > 0:41:35Dr Harry Witchel of the Brighton and Sussex Medical School
0:41:35 > 0:41:39has devised a unique experiment
0:41:39 > 0:41:42to find out if hearing the pipes could inspire soldiers
0:41:42 > 0:41:45to even greater feats of bravery and strength.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55Today's experiment, we're going to be looking at the effects of different
0:41:55 > 0:42:01kinds of sounds on your ability to perform under various circumstances.
0:42:01 > 0:42:06So it's going to be slight fatigue on your strength.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10We're going to play you different kinds of sounds,
0:42:10 > 0:42:12or music, as the case may be.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16You'll be listening to something for about five minutes on the treadmill
0:42:16 > 0:42:19and then, at the end of the treadmill, we're going to ask you
0:42:19 > 0:42:22to test your strength on this object here.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26This is a hand dynamometer and it measures actual physical strength.
0:42:26 > 0:42:2712 Scottish volunteers
0:42:27 > 0:42:31from the Glasgow and Strathclyde University Officer Training Corps
0:42:31 > 0:42:36will each carry out the same test, three times,
0:42:36 > 0:42:39with three different soundtracks played in random order.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41Bagpipe music...
0:42:45 > 0:42:49..modern music, chosen to be at the same pitch and depth as the pipes...
0:42:52 > 0:42:55..and, as a control,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58the sound of silence.
0:42:59 > 0:43:01Essentially, we're looking at,
0:43:01 > 0:43:04when pipers were in the battlefield
0:43:04 > 0:43:06and there were all these men who were exhausted,
0:43:06 > 0:43:09what was it about the pipes music that could drive them on?
0:43:09 > 0:43:11Could pipes music drive them on?
0:43:12 > 0:43:15'And we'll see if this kind of motivation can make a genuine
0:43:15 > 0:43:18'objective difference to how much strength
0:43:18 > 0:43:21'they can manage after being partially exhausted.'
0:43:21 > 0:43:2466.1. OK.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27Clinical trials have suggested
0:43:27 > 0:43:30that music can produce a marked physiological effect.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37Probably the most famous of those concerns the effect of music
0:43:37 > 0:43:42on patients who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders.
0:43:42 > 0:43:48If you give them music, they report lower levels of distress and pain
0:43:48 > 0:43:51'but they also show higher levels of work output.'
0:43:51 > 0:43:53That's very good.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56But here, what we're looking for is a much more territorial effect.
0:43:56 > 0:44:00That is, will music, just because it's Scottish music,
0:44:00 > 0:44:03'and motivational music, have an effect?'
0:44:03 > 0:44:06That's 34.2. Yeah. Bigger.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12The next day, and Dr Witchel has analysed
0:44:12 > 0:44:13the results of his experiment.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20What we found was that the bagpipe music
0:44:20 > 0:44:23caused grip strength to be stronger than the alternative music,
0:44:23 > 0:44:25and that was statistically significant.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31Overall, Dr Witchel's study showed
0:44:31 > 0:44:34that the effect of the bagpipe music was inconsistent,
0:44:34 > 0:44:36but it was certainly noticeable.
0:44:39 > 0:44:40It supports the idea that,
0:44:40 > 0:44:43if these young people felt a sense of identity,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47felt a sense of social territory toward bagpipe music -
0:44:47 > 0:44:49it made them feel like Scots -
0:44:49 > 0:44:52it fits with the idea that this gave them extra strength
0:44:52 > 0:44:56so that, after this fatiguing exercise, that they found
0:44:56 > 0:45:00greater strength to do physical performance in a situation
0:45:00 > 0:45:03where they wouldn't necessarily have other found that strength.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06It gave them psychological reserve and resolve.
0:45:07 > 0:45:09PIPES PLAY: "The Atholl Highlanders"
0:45:11 > 0:45:14But in terms of the structural components of bagpipe music,
0:45:14 > 0:45:16you've got two things going on.
0:45:16 > 0:45:21One is this high-pitched sound, the melody that gets you up.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23And if you identified with it,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26it would be strengthening rather than frightening.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28The other thing is this drone,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31and the drone of the bagpipes is driving.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35It allows people to keep finding the strength to move forward.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38This drone is one of the most important things about
0:45:38 > 0:45:41what makes bagpipe music unmistakable
0:45:41 > 0:45:46and you can imagine it being strengthening for the fighters
0:45:46 > 0:45:50in a war and terrifying for those who they are fighting against.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04The raw power of the piper came at a considerable cost.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09At least 25 pipers killed at Gallipoli.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12About 50 at both Loos and the Somme.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15The Scottish Army piper
0:46:15 > 0:46:18had come to life in a time of swords and muskets.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23But, by the end of the Somme, by late 1916,
0:46:23 > 0:46:25pipers had spent over two years
0:46:25 > 0:46:28engaged in a very modern, mechanised war.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34The game has changed.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38There is anecdotal evidence that they were protected,
0:46:38 > 0:46:41they were not always placed
0:46:41 > 0:46:42in the trenches,
0:46:42 > 0:46:45except under the conditions of a major attack.
0:46:45 > 0:46:46Kept further back,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49because it's the problem of replacing them.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54It would be a battalion commander's decision as to where
0:46:54 > 0:46:55he would want his pipers to be.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58Some were more protective of them than others.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01Pipers would live or die according to the attitudes
0:47:01 > 0:47:04and philosophies of their commanding officers.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Even as the war drew to its end,
0:47:08 > 0:47:11some battalions continued to place their pipers in the line of fire.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18Not least the foreign Scots.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23Scottish-styled regiments were raised on every continent,
0:47:23 > 0:47:25all proud of their history and lineage.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31Today, here in Vancouver, and all around the world,
0:47:31 > 0:47:34the Army piper remains a potent symbol
0:47:34 > 0:47:36of the bonds of clan and empire.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41The pipes that I have were my grandfather's.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44Alexander Newlands.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47He got them issued to them in the First World War,
0:47:47 > 0:47:50in 1914, as a member of the 48th Highlanders.
0:47:50 > 0:47:56He was a Pipe Major. He was at Vimy and Ypres,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59the Battle of the Somme. Any of the major battles
0:47:59 > 0:48:01that were occurring wherever the 15th were stationed
0:48:01 > 0:48:05or deployed during that time, that's where they would have ended up.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10THEY PLAY: "Scotland The Brave"
0:48:11 > 0:48:13Garth is himself a Pipe Major
0:48:13 > 0:48:16of the local Cedar Hills Caledonian Pipe Band.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21And he still plays the pipes his grandfather took to war.
0:48:26 > 0:48:27My grandpa played them.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30They have been in the family for 100 years now.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36Go ahead and try the bottom hand scale again.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42'I can see my progression carrying on with them
0:48:42 > 0:48:46'and I'm instilling in my son the need to take up it, as well.'
0:48:48 > 0:48:50- Good job, Austin.- Ehh...
0:48:50 > 0:48:51One more time.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53He will take on the pipes.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55He's going to have to wait a number of years
0:48:55 > 0:48:56before I'm ready to give them up.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01100 years after his grandfather travelled
0:49:01 > 0:49:04from Canada to northern France,
0:49:04 > 0:49:06Garth Newlands has made that same journey.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12And with him, a precious cargo.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15Returning to France for the first time since the war -
0:49:15 > 0:49:17his grandfather's bagpipes.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Born in Toronto, Pipe Major Alexander Newlands
0:49:24 > 0:49:27was the second son of an Edinburgh printer.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29He'd worked as a commercial artist.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35In 1914, and then a 24-year-old bachelor,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37Newlands joined the 48th Highlanders of Canada.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42They came about through a guy called Alexander Fraser,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45who was the president of the Gaelic society of Toronto,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49and he took it upon himself to say that Toronto needed to have
0:49:49 > 0:49:53an Army regiment which showed military Scottishness.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57Montreal had one, and had one since 1882,
0:49:57 > 0:49:59and he felt that they really needed to have their own
0:49:59 > 0:50:03and this was a phenomenon which later spread throughout Canada.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06They came over to France,
0:50:06 > 0:50:09they still called themselves the 48th Highlanders
0:50:09 > 0:50:11despite the fact that they were the 15th Battalion
0:50:11 > 0:50:12of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14So that Scottish identity -
0:50:14 > 0:50:18they wore the same tartan, they played the same pipe music -
0:50:18 > 0:50:20that still remained when they transferred
0:50:20 > 0:50:25into the expeditionary force and went to do serious fighting.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31The Highlanders fought at Ypres, at the Somme,
0:50:31 > 0:50:35and in the spring of 1917 they came to Vimy Ridge.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41For two and a half years, French and later British attempts
0:50:41 > 0:50:45to capture this elevated German strongpoint had failed.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52Four Canadian divisions, 30,000 men, would be the next to try.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59And so, just before 5:30am on Easter Monday, 1917,
0:50:59 > 0:51:02Garth's grandfather, Alexander Newlands,
0:51:02 > 0:51:06struck up his pipes and prepared for the charge.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14The ground in front of them was a nightmare.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17It was mud, it was snowing.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20There was a horrible wind which was swirling around.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24He would have been in front of his company of troops,
0:51:24 > 0:51:27piping them on, not responsible in an official way for getting them going,
0:51:27 > 0:51:31but he would have felt responsible for moving these guys forwards
0:51:31 > 0:51:32and taking the fight to the enemy.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Trying to think of what kind of courage that would have taken
0:51:39 > 0:51:43for a piper to step up over the edge of the trench
0:51:43 > 0:51:46and lead the soldiers into that battle
0:51:46 > 0:51:51is a pretty scary thing to think about,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55cos you're taking it...or giving it into someone else's hands
0:51:55 > 0:51:59and hoping that you're going to be the one to make it through.
0:51:59 > 0:52:03But you're also inspiring everyone else to take that next step,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06and be courageous and continue on.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11I think tradition played an important role, as well,
0:52:11 > 0:52:15especially with the Canadian pipers, because they established themselves
0:52:15 > 0:52:18at the Second Battle of Ypres, in April 1915,
0:52:18 > 0:52:19and they really stood up.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22It was the Canadians' first major battle.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26He would have this idea of
0:52:26 > 0:52:28"These are the pipers who have gone before me in my regiment,
0:52:28 > 0:52:32"this is the standard to which I want to maintain myself."
0:52:32 > 0:52:34Then there's also this dual aspect of,
0:52:34 > 0:52:37coming from the 48th Highlanders of Toronto,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40they were allied to the Gordon Highlanders in Scotland,
0:52:40 > 0:52:42and they adopted their traditions.
0:52:42 > 0:52:43All of these different traditions
0:52:43 > 0:52:46would have been spurring your grandfather along.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51Just 35 minutes after the initial attack,
0:52:51 > 0:52:53the Canadians captured their first objective.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58And, 40 minutes later, at 6:45am,
0:52:58 > 0:53:00they began a second attack,
0:53:00 > 0:53:03advancing even deeper into the German lines.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09At some point in time I understand that my grandfather
0:53:09 > 0:53:13put down his pipes because the battle started to get heavy.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16He ended up losing his pipes for three days here.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21Once the troops got to where they were going, he joined in.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24He joined in fighting, and he would have had a sniper rifle
0:53:24 > 0:53:27and he would have been picking off Germans as best he could.
0:53:27 > 0:53:32The repeated Canadian advances took place in appalling conditions,
0:53:32 > 0:53:35freezing temperatures and horizontal sleet.
0:53:36 > 0:53:41Back at the Glasgow School of Art, Michael Stedman and Paul Wilson
0:53:41 > 0:53:44have attempted to recreate how Garth's grandfather's pipes
0:53:44 > 0:53:46might have sounded that awful Easter morning.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52There's wind, rain, men's footsteps, and distant conversation going on.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56Men are freezing cold, some of them are praying.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58They're under terrible duress,
0:53:58 > 0:54:02but I do think that the bagpipes provides a sense
0:54:02 > 0:54:04of your own identity,
0:54:04 > 0:54:07which is a necessary feeling.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10You've got to do this for something,
0:54:10 > 0:54:13whether it be for your wife, your children, your family,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16your country, your cultural heritage,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19I think the bagpipes distil all of that into one emotion,
0:54:19 > 0:54:23which is just immensely powerful.
0:54:24 > 0:54:25Of course, for some of these men,
0:54:25 > 0:54:28it would have been the last sound that they heard.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30BAGPIPES PLAY
0:54:30 > 0:54:31RAIN PATTERS
0:54:31 > 0:54:33RUMBLING
0:54:33 > 0:54:35EXPLOSIONS
0:54:35 > 0:54:37GUNFIRE
0:54:40 > 0:54:41ARTILLERY FIRE
0:54:41 > 0:54:43EXPLOSION
0:54:44 > 0:54:46GUNFIRE
0:54:52 > 0:54:53EXPLOSION
0:54:55 > 0:54:57WHISTLE SOUNDS
0:54:57 > 0:54:58MEN SHOUT
0:54:58 > 0:55:01HEAVY GUNFIRE
0:55:04 > 0:55:07It's really hard to put fully into words
0:55:07 > 0:55:10what he would have been thinking about what was going on
0:55:10 > 0:55:12and what his active part would be.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17It's...
0:55:17 > 0:55:20It's...an emotional thing, I guess.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31The battle of Vimy Ridge would be remembered as a spectacular success.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37In 1922, the French Government gifted the entire battlefield
0:55:37 > 0:55:39to the people of Canada.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46On that land was built the Canadian National Memorial
0:55:46 > 0:55:50in memory of the 60,000 Canadians killed in four years of fighting.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01And today the memorial plays host to a very special,
0:56:01 > 0:56:03very personal tribute.
0:56:09 > 0:56:11HE PLAYS: "Flowers Of The Forest"
0:56:25 > 0:56:27The tune Flowers Of The Forest
0:56:27 > 0:56:31was written as a tribute to the dead of the battle of Flodden in 1513.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38500 years on, it has become the official lament
0:56:38 > 0:56:41played by military pipers in remembrance of fallen comrades.
0:56:52 > 0:56:552,500 pipers had served in the Great War.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01And, of that number, 600 were wounded...
0:57:01 > 0:57:02and 500 were killed.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14Garth's grandfather, Pipe Major Newlands, survived.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21And, a century on, back at Vimy Ridge,
0:57:21 > 0:57:23the sound of his pipes again fills the air.
0:57:53 > 0:57:54It's...
0:57:58 > 0:58:02It's great to bring them back.
0:58:03 > 0:58:09I know that my grandfather did play an important part of the war...
0:58:10 > 0:58:14..as a Pipe Major, as a piper, as a soldier.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21I'm sure everyone can thank every soldier for that.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35SONG: "Going To Pitlochry"