The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Black Watch pipers’ show captured JFK’s heart.
The skirl of The Black Wat c h bagpipes captured the hearts of US President John F Kennedy and his family.
Three months into their 1963 tour of America the pipes and drums of The Black Wa t c h were performing on the south lawn of the White House.
The concert was said to be the last time President Kennedy spent a happy day with his two young children Caroline and John.
President Kennedy was called away and did not join the band after the performance when they drank whisky in the White House.
However, there was a surprise for them as they left.
As the two buses returning them to barracks were s e tt i n g o ff they stopped to allow a man to jump on.
“I wanted to thank you guys for what you did,” he announced.
The flashing smile was unmistakable.
The bus fell silent as they realised they were being addressed by the president.
He said: “Unfortunately, I got called away on state business towards the end, otherwise I’d have loved to have had a drink with you.”
President Kennedy went down the bus, shaking hands, before going to the second bus to repeat his gratitude.
Used to performing for British dignitaries without any such acknowledgement, the band’s esteem for JFK rose immeasurably in those moments.
Nine d ay s later the president was shot dead in Dallas, Texas, on November 22.
The Black Watch band was still in the United States and heard the news at the end of another long day ’s drive from their previous venue in Atlanta to Knoxville, Tennessee.
As the bus pulled up in front of their hotel the driver suddenly turned up the radio so they could hear an announcement that shocked the world.
The president was dead after being fatally shot while riding in an open-car motorcade through the streets of downtown Dallas.
For the second time, President Kennedy had brought silence to the bandsmen’s bus.
Immediately after the assassination, the band performed a small public tribute to JFK.
Pipe Major Jim Anderson played Flowers o’ the Forest and the band followed with the American national anthem.
The tribute was initiated with a short speech by the commanding officer.
He said the regiment were “offering our empathy to the American people and associating ourselves with them at this time”.
In a bar that night blood was shed as some of the men expressed their sadness at the tragic demise of the man they’d met just days earlier.
They were unaware that many in America were strongly – and as it turned out, violently – opposed to a Catholic president and their remarks landed three of the band in hospital after a fight broke out with some locals.
The following night’s concert was cancelled as a mark of respect, but on the Sunday the bandsmen fell in for an announcement.
The president had told his wife Ja c k i e how impressed he had been with The Black Watch men and the First Lady personally requested their involvement in her husband’s state funeral.
Only nine pipers were required for the duty and it was left to Mr Anderson to select which of the 24 it would be.
Those chosen were immediately put on a US Air Fo r c e plane to Washington for the funeral the following day.
Despite it being late when they arrived, the pipers spent two hours practising what they’d play in the cortege while Mr Anderson met US officers who were arranging the highly-accelerated parade.
It was after midnight when he returned with bad news. In Britain the pace at funerals is “slow march”.
It turned out to be “trail arms” in America which is a completely different pace.
The Black Watch were the only non- American service personnel to take part in the funeral procession.
And until then there was no tradition in America of pipers playing at a service funeral.
It was a frosty morning in Washington that day with a wintry wind sweeping the wide avenues.
The party had to wait two hours outside the White Ho u s e for the procession to arrive, by which time their fingers were fast becoming numb.
As they waited, the men star- spotted the world’s d ign itar ies and showbusiness personalities, such as Lana Turner and Peter Lawford.
At 11.40am, President Kennedy’s coffin emerged to be placed on the gun carriage, before the various American servicemen and bands led off the procession.
The pipers were to fall in behind the Marine Company at the rear of the military escort and some marched with cuts and bruises from the bar fight.
They played The Brown Haired Maiden, The Badge of Scotland, The 51st Division, The Old Rustic Bridge and The Barren Rocks Of Aden, which were all suitably slowed to suit the Americans’ tempo.
It was still another four hours before the men were stood down. They were flown back to Kentucky to join their regiment and continue the US tour.
The commanding officer spoke with the British Embassy on whether to perform that night on a national day of mourning.
But it was decided to go ahead and they performed a second tribute to JFK.
Mrs Kennedy later sent a thank-you letter to Major Michael Wingate-Gray on December 16 where she expressed her “deep appreciation” and stated that the pipers’ presence “was a great tribute to the president”.
She also thanked The Black Watch for sending two Black Wa t c h toy soldiers to the Kennedy children for John’s birthday, which occurred on the day of the state funeral, and for Caroline’s, which occurred two days afterwards.
“Caroline and John are so excited with their Black Watch soldiers and I am so grateful that they had the opportunity to see the performance of The Black Watch on the White House lawn,” she said.
“I am sure they will always remember this experience even though they are very young.”