No.171 May2017 THE REDHACKLE No. 171 42nd 73rd May 2017 THE RED HACKLE The Chronicle of The Black Wa tch (Royal Highland Regiment), its successor The Black Wa tch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, The Affiliated Regiments and The Black Wa tch Association The Association Royal Patron, His Royal Highness The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay attended the London Branch drinks reception at the Victory Services Club on 24 November 2016. MAY2017 THE RED HACKLE 1 Perthand Kinross Need alittle support? Then OA Scotland maybeable to help is proud to be TheOfficersAssociation Scotland provides arange of welfareservices forformer officers, their ws/wido home to the widowers and dependants OA Scotland offers: BlackWatch • Financial Assistance • Annuities • RespiteBreaks Museum and • Advice • MobilitySupport Home Other services Services forex-officers We also offer arange of employment If youare serving or have served in the services aimed at getting those detached Armed Forces and want to find out more Headquarters from the work placeback into work as about OA Scotland WelfareServices well as afreerecruitmentservice available to you, please contactus Contactusat Contactusat Tel0131 5501557 Tel0131 55015571557 [email protected] [email protected] Delivering Quality www.oascotland.org.uk www.oascotland.org.uk to the Heart of Scotland Scottish Charity No. NewHSC010665aig House,Logie Green Road,NeEdwHinburghaig House EH7,L 4HQogie Green Road, Edinburgh EH7 4HQ Accountants to The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) For over 60 years the primary concern of Morris & Young has always been to provide sound business advice which is truly appropriate to the client’s needs. In order to achieve this it is vital to understand the commercial objectives, structure and nature of each client’s business and/or their personal financial aspirations. Our clients range from private individuals to public limited companies who require a rapid response to take advantage of new opportunities and whose activities may present major tasks requiring specialist knowledge. Long connections with The Black Watch give the firm a genuine understanding of the needs of those connected with the Regiment. For a copy of our brochure and/or a no obligation consultation contact Peter Young. 6 Atholl Crescent, Perth PH1 5JN Tel: 01738 626257 Fax: 01738 630845 e-mail: [email protected] Registered to carry on audit work by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and authorised and regulated by the Financial ServicesRegiste Authorityredtoc forarr inveyostmentna uditbusiness.wo rk by the InstituteofChartered AccountantsofScotland. 2 THE RED HACKLE MAY2017 Contents The Editorial .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Red hackle Regimental News ............................................................................................................................... 4 The Black Watch Museum and Friends of The Black Watch...................................................... 12 Correspondence ............................................................................................................................... 16 Obituaries ......................................................................................................................................... 17 Articles .............................................................................................................................................. 24 The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland ............................................ 31 51st Highland, 7th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland.................................................. 45 The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada .......................................................... 49 Black Watch Battalion Army Cadet Force .................................................................................... 51 Association News ............................................................................................................................. 54 The London Branch Drinks Reception and Dinner .................................................................... 60 Editorial The dinner to honour our National Servicemen was held in Perth in November and was agreat success and since then, the Association Secretariat have been working on the erection of the The Chronicle of Queen’s Barracks memorial and information panel close to St Ninian’s Cathedral in Perth. The memorial will record in words and pictures, the fact that the barracks was the home of The The Black Watch Black Watch Depot for 80 years. The Association have also been working on plans to erect a (Royal Highland Regiment) statue in the grounds of Balhousie Castle that will depict aBlack Watch piper serving in the its successor 51st Highland Division. There is more detail on both these projects in the News Section of the The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion magazine. Lastly, the Association are helping to replace an existing memorial at Monte Scalari The Royal Regiment of Scotland in Italy, the scene of fierce fighting for the 6th Battalion in 1944. After the busy 2016 summer, the Castle and Museum have had amore measured period. That The Affiliated Regiments said an example of aFirst World Wartrench was built in the grounds to allow the museum staff and to expand the educational experience of visitors and there are anumber of projects underway to The Black Watch Association improve the archives. In addition two temporary exhibitions were mounted. Volume 2ofthe Regimental History will be published this summer and Victoria Schofield has kindly prepared an excerpt for the magazine that appears in the Articles Section. Major Dick May 2017 Parata has written an excellent article about his experiences in Aden in 1967 when serving with No.171 the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and ashort article about the Regimental Tw eed may also be of interest. Lieutenant Colonel RobHedderwick has highlighted in his Foreword, that the Battalion has been spread around the globe with Company training exercises being held in Kenya and Jordan Published for The Black Watch and training support being given to the Kuwaiti Armed Forces. In August 2017 the Battalion become the Theatre Standby Battalion and then deploy as aBattalion (-) to Iraq in 2018. On current planning Fort George will remain open until 2032. By the time this magazine is published Colonel Alex Murdoch will have handed over as Chairman of the Association to Major General JM Cowan, having started his career 54 years ago in the 6/7th Battalion The Black Watch. Method Publishing 64 Main street, golspie, sutherland, scotland KW10 6tg telephone (01408) 633871 to whom all enquiries regarding advertising should be addressed. The opinions expressed in the articles of the magazine arethose of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the Editorial Matter and Illustrations policy and views, official or otherwise, of the Regimental Association or the MOD. This publication contains official ©Crown Copyright information. It should be treated with discretion by the recipient. “The RedHackle”ispublished everysix months in Mayand November.Contributions large and small will always be welcome. They should be typewritten in double spacing on one side of the paper only.Photographs, cartoons and Design and Typography sketches of Regimental interest arealso welcome and will be returned if requested. ©Method Publishing 2017 All material for inclusion in the various issues must reach the Editor not later than 1April and 1October respectively. From 1January2013, bulk orders aresupplied at arate of £7 per copy.Individual copies aresent out to permanent subscribers, both in the UK and abroad, at asubscription rate of £14 annually for UK subscribers, £30 annually to Europe and £30 annually Worldwide by airmail. AGift Aid Scheme is available for individual subscribers who aresubject to UK tax. The magazine fund benefits from tax reclaimed in this way.All subscriptions should be sent to the Editor,The RedHackle Magazine, Balhousie Castle, HayStreet, PerthPH1 5HR, and those interested in the Gift Aid Scheme, will on request be provided with the correct forms for completion. MAY2017 THE RED HACKLE 3 Warrant Officer Class 2(RQMS) GHannah on the award of aCGS Commendation. Corporal AWells on being presented with The Charlie Hankins Award To Captain Michael McCluskey Army Cadet Force on the award of the General Officer Commanding Regional Command’s Commendation. Captain Alan McEwen pictured with his family at Buckingham Palace where Regimental News he was presented with his MBE. FORECAST OF EVENTS 2017/2018 DATE EVENT LOCATION 2017 2017 12 June Officers and Ladies Lunch London CHRISTMAS 16 June Regimental Golf Meeting Muckhart CARD 17 June Regimental Reunion Perth The 2017 Christmas card is aportrait 30 July Crieff Remembers The Battle of Lieutenant Colonel John Coode. of Passchendaele Crieff He was originally an officer in the 31 July Great WarMemorial Service Balhousie 73rd and was killed commanding the Castle 2nd Battalion at Magersfontein on 17 September Fife Branch Alma Lunch Kirkcaldy 11 December 1899. 17 September Angus Branch Standard Apack of ten cards will cost £7.20. Rededication Kirriemuir 7October Perth Branch Croix de Guerre LEGION D’HONNEUR AWARDS Dinner Perth Douglas Denwette, aged 97 lives in Kirkcaldy. He served in the 21 October Angus Branch El Alamein 5th Battalion and took