D-Day pipes on display at Ottawa event

The Sons of Scotland Pipe Band of Ottawa marked the 65th anniversary of D-Day on June 6th by organizing a display of the pipes that Pipe-Major Sam Scott of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa played ashore in 1944 during the Allied invasion of the beaches of Normandy.

 

The event was held at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, where the pipes were officially presented to be on display until June 21st.

 

P-M Sam Scott was given the set Henderson pipes by the 43rd Regimental Association of Ottawa upon his deployment as pipe-major of the Cameron Highlanders. Scott was one of few pipers to play on the Normandy beaches on D-Day, and he also served as a machine-gunner and a stretcher-bearer.

 

The Sons of Scotland band joined the Sam Scott Memorial Pipe Band, the Cameron Highlanders and other Ottawa area bands at the June 6th event. The Sons of Scotland Pipe Band also played at the 1999 events in Ottawa commemorating the 55th anniversary of D-Day.

 

P-M Sam Scott died in an automobile crash in 1972. The pipes are part of the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s collection.

 

The first piper ashore at Normandy was Bill Millin, a piper to Lord Lovat, whose account of the experience can be read here.