Bagpipes of Piper Richardson, V.C., finally come home from the Somme

Northern Piper · #1 11-09-2006, 09:03 PM

The bagpipes of Piper Richardson, V.C., have come home to British Columbia, finally returning from the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

During the Battle of the Somme, in October, 1916, a battalion of the Canadian Scottish was pinned down by enemy fire.

Piper James Clelland Richardson stood up and began playing his pipes in full view of the enemy, and in enemy fire.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piper Richardson's Citation for the Victoria Cross

Piper Richardson strode up and down outside the wire, playing his pipes with the greatest coolness," read the citation for his Victoria Cross, the only one ever earned by a Canadian piper. "The effect was instantaneous. Inspired by his splendid example, the company rushed the wire with such fury and determination that the obstacle was overcome and the position captured."

Then Piper Richardson set down his pipes and got to work on his main job - acting as a medical corpsman, taking the wounded back from the front.

Later in the day, he went back for his pipes, and was not seen alive again. Nor were his pipes.

A few months later, a British chaplain found the pipes on the battlefield and took them to Britain, where they ended up in a display case in a school in Scotland.

A few years ago, a curious parent noticed that the tartan on the pipes didn't match the tartan of any British unit that had served at the Somme and began trying to track them down. The tartan eventually led to the identification of the pipes as Piper Richardson's.

This week, the pipes came home, and were received at the B.C. Legislature by Premier Campbell: Pipes Come Home: Long-lost instrument a symbol of heroism.

God Rest the Souls of the Million Dead at the Somme.