Kilts and military uniforms

[Doomsday]

A scary thing it would be, a battalion of Scots wearing kilts and carrying guns.

[Colin]

Talking about Scotty from Star Trek( I just loved the original Star Trek) the town of Linlithgow a few miles from Edinburgh has been logged as the birthplace of Scotty. Now we have the councillors of Linlithgow erecting a statue to their most famous son who has not even been born yet!

Julian

That's funny.

I am typing about 25 minutes away from where James Doohan (who played Scotty of course) was born in Vancouver, BC. No statues here that I am aware of

[wesd]

GOOD DAY, There were other kilted troops not just the men from the Scottish reg. The Canadians and the South African and I think the Aussis, maybe others but I cann't think of them right now. One more thing I read somewhere that the reason the Scots in the British Army remove the kilt from the field dress was because it gave poor protection from mustard gas and other blistering agents. THANKS Wes

[Doc]

To get a sense of what the other lads have posted you need to find copies of Call to the Blood and ladies from hell. Great docs. They focus on the pipers, all winners of the VC, and a bit of a look at the
scots fighting men. Rousing stuff, I'd have goosebumps and my gramps would be in tears. He served '38-'44. Thanks for allowing a nod to gramps, he was a good man!

[macwilkin]

GOOD DAY, There were other kilted troops not just the men from the Scottish reg. The Canadians and the South African and I think the Aussis, maybe others but I cann't think of them right now. One more thing I read somewhere that the reason the Scots in the British Army remove the kilt from the field dress was because it gave poor protection from mustard gas and other blistering agents. THANKS Wes

Ask, and ye shall receive:

http://www.btinternet.com/~james.mckay/commonwr.htm

http://www.btinternet.com/~james.mckay/naindex.htm

Cheers,

Todd

[Julie]

That's funny.

I am typing about 25 minutes away from where James Doohan (who played Scotty of course) was born in Vancouver, BC. No statues here that I am aware of

Well it was Gene Rodenberry who I believe said that Scotty was going to be born in Linlithgow, Scotland. Linlithgow is not a big place so they do not get many great engineers and space explorers that often. There may be other famous people from Linlithgow, I'm sure there must be an inventor or two about, Scotland was full of inventors at one time.
Any way we are fair chuffed Scotty is going to be born in Linlithgow so we decided to honour him with a statue.
There is a place down the road from Linlithgow called Bonnybridge and its described as the UFO capital of Scotland so perhaps Mr. Spock may have visited it at one time along with Captain Kirk.

I,m sure Vancouver has its fair share of famous people and it may get round to honouring actors some day with statues but I suppose actors are common place in Vancouver as opposed to Scottish engineers.
Here's boldly going......
Julian

[Highland Logan]

This is information from The Scottish tartan Authorty. And there were many Highland Regt. from Canada who took part in both wars. In fact the Nova Scotia Highlanders in both wars used to speek Gaelic over radio and wire, because the German's could not translate it.

Frank Logan

http://www.tartansauthority.com/Web/...heGreatWar.asp

In his book "The Romantic Story of the Highland Garb and Tartan", J.G.MacKay
gives us an appendix by Lt/Col Norman MacLeod from which this extract is taken.
Bearing in mind the obscenely large losses of human life during World War I,
this 'stiff upper lip' approach is disquieting - especially the last paragraph.


"With reference to my experience in France of the kilt as a dress in the Great War, I may say I saw service in the front line area for the best part of three years, both summer and winter. There were three reasons why I believe the kilt was fully justified as a dress on its merits;

1. the health of the troops,
2. usefulness and comfort of design
3. effect on morale.

1.There is certainly no reason for believing that kilted troops were less healthy than others, but rather the opposite, when the following advantages of the kilt are considered. In the first place, it kept the most vital part of the body, the middle, warmer than trousers. I believe some troops had body belts issued to them for this purpose, but it was generally admitted there was a difficulty in getting them worn. There was a good chance of them being thrown away, but a Highlander would not throw away his kilt. Secondly, the great enemy to health is not cold, but wet. Any one who served in the trench system, especially in Winter, knows how often water was met with. One often had to wade through water for a certain distance. If there was little water the easiest plan was to remove the kilt and hang it round the shoulders. On the other hand, the man in trousers was wet up to his middle, for, even if the water was only knee deep it soon splashed or crept up the cloth.
When the kilt was worn regularly, the skin soon hardens, so that the legs and knees feel no more cold than the hands or the face. At the front, at night, when there was a keen frost the men often had to stand in icy water, but they apparently did not feel the cold more than the rest of their body. The Highland Brigade claimed to have had the fewest cases of "trench foot". This I believe was partly accounted for by the use of the hose-top. It was well known that when the "putty" got wet it shrank and compressed the leg. Also, men wearing socks would put on two pairs to keep their feet warm which compressed their feet and interfered with circulation. Now, as hose-tops have no feet a man could wear two pairs without compressing his legs or his feet and the hose tops kept his feet warm, as mittens around the wrist keep the hands warm.

2. Usefulness and comfort were proved in the freedom the kilt gave to the limbs. This was seen by the long easy stride of kilted men on the march, which made them dislike marching behind trousered regiments. The interference of trousers with the free play of the legs is, I think, proved by the number of men who cut their trousers off at the knee.
Another point which must be referred to is the case of "mustard gas". When it was first used it was expected that the Highlander would suffer badly from the effects of burning on his bare legs. But not so, the gas generally attacked the parts of the body where the skin was tender and the Highlander's legs were as tough as his hands or face. Again, a very common case of burning was accounted for by men sitting on ground saturated with gas. Now, the kilt being much thicker than trousers, meant that the gas did not penetrate so easily, and when the man stood up the kilt swinging in the air dispelled the gas more easily.

3.With reference to morale, I believe that the association of the kilt with the great deeds of valour on the part of the Highland Regiments, inspires their members. I know of no inspiration to be got from trousers.

In conclusion, it will naturally be asked what are the disadvantages of the kilt? I can only think of one. Going through barbed wire in the dark. The kilt was more easily caught than trousers. At the same time a torn kilt with its pleats was not as serious a problem as a pair of torn pants!

[Nervous Jock]

It was very common in WW1 for kilted scottish regiments to be fighting in the battlefields of France,

IIRC the last unit to wear kilts in battle was the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders in France 1940

[highlander_Daz]

scottish regiments (despite being shafted by the British Government in 2005 Mods-not a political statement a fact) continue to be at the sharp end of combat, in 2004 they captured the city of Fallujah led into action by a piper and the tanks were equiped with loud speaker systems Blaring out bagpipe tunes while the bewildered Iraqi insurgents faced one of the most feared regiments on earth, for the final time the CO shouted "Forward the 42nd" before the Black watch was reduced to the status of batallion. when they arrived at the "triangle of terror" a service man removed his protective helmet and body armour , donned a glengarry and piped the regiment over the bridge into the combat zone.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...?from=storylhs

The Black watch was there by "urgent request" of US marines, this is the level of respect that the Black watch has in Military circles.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3989815.stm

[macwilkin]

scottish regiments (despite being shafted by the British Government in 2005 Mods-not a political statement a fact) continue to be at the sharp end of combat, in 2004 they captured the city of Fallujah led into action by a piper and the tanks were equiped with loud speaker systems Blaring out bagpipe tunes while the bewildered Iraqi insurgents faced one of the most feared regiments on earth, for the final time the CO shouted "Forward the 42nd" before the Black watch was reduced to the status of batallion. when they arrived at the "triangle of terror" a service man removed his protective helmet and body armour , donned a glengarry and piped the regiment over the bridge into the combat zone.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...?from=storylhs

The Black watch was there by "urgent request" of US marines, this is the level of respect that the Black watch has in Military circles.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3989815.stm

Daz,

Don't forget that the Argylls made a bayonet charge in Iraq.

T.