Pipe Major Hugh MacBeth, the Calgary Highlanders

The first Pipe Major of the Calgary Highlanders was Hugh MacBeth, who led the Regimental Pipes and Drums from 1921 to 1923. Born in Scotland, MacBeth had immigrated to Canada, and served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the First World War, most notably in the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), a famous unit of the 1st Canadian Division that was also the parent formation of the 10th Battalion, the forerunners of The Calgary Highlanders. MacBeth also played in The Calgary Highlanders after stepping down as Pipe Major, and is identified in the photo (below) as the band's Pipe Sergeant at the time of the Canadian Pacific Railway Scottish Music Festival in Banff, probably in 1927. The CPR held a series of music and folk arts festivals from 1927 to 1931, organized by publicity agent John Murray Gibbon.



Pipe Major Neil Sutherland of The Calgary Highlanders

Pipe Major Neil Sutherland of The Calgary Highlanders during the parade of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division in Dieppe on 3 September 1944. The Division had provided the bulk of the combat force (with several hundred British Commandos and 50 U.S. Army Rangers) during the famous Raid of August 1942, leaving behind 2,000 prisoners at the end of the day. The Calgary Highlanders' mortar platoon was sent to Dieppe but did not disembark; Sergeants Bill Lyster and Bert Pittaway were Mentioned in Despatches for shooting down a German aircraft while on anti-aircraft duties offshore. Captain Ted Insinger, assigned to a brigade headquarters, was killed while ashore. The Division returned to the European continent in July 1944; by 1 September the Battle of Normandy had been concluded and Allied forces were across the Seine River in force. The German garrison at Dieppe showed no stomach for a rematch and evacuated the city as the division approached; on 3 September 8,000 men marched 10 abreast through the city to mark the liberation and commemorate the 800 dead buried in the nearby cemetery after the 1942 battle.