Pipers’ tribute to Scots who fought ‘in ‘forgotten’ battle 80 years ago

PIPERS AROUND the world will pay a mournful tribute to thousands of Scots who were killed or captured during “the forgotten Dunkirk” of 80 years ago.

More than 200 musicians from 16 countries have so far agreed to play the pipers’ march Heroes of St Valery from their doorsteps on June 12, in memory of the British troops surrounded at St-Valeryen-Caux, a few days after the successful mass evacuations at Dunkirk.

A flotilla of ships sent to rescue the soldiers could not reach them because of fog and the closeness of German artillery. Those who were not killed in the fierce fighting or had fallen to their deaths from the cliffs trying to escape, were captured and marched hundreds of miles to prisoner of war camps in eastern Europe.

Willie Armstrong, one of the founding members of the Celtic rock band Red Hot Chilli Pipers, is among those who will be playing. Mr Armstrong, who served in the Royal Navy for four years and is a retired fire service officer, said: “It’s amazing to see the global piping community come together for such an important commemoration.”

Heroes of St Valery was composed by Donald MacLean, a Scottish Pipe Major who enlisted in the Seaforth Highlanders in 1940 and was subsequently attached to the 51st Highland Division.

After the division was forced to surrender on June 12 1940, following a final battle at St-Valeryen-Caux, a fishing port west of Dieppe, he survived a forced march from France to Poland and was held as a prisoner of war for the remainder of the conflict.

Neil McLennan, of Aberdeen University, who has been convening the 80th anniversary commemoration, said: “The events at St Valery have never received the level of recognition we believe they should but we hope this year’s commemoration will put that right and ensure the ‘Forgotten 51st’ are forgotten no more.”