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Victory Medal 16th Canadian Scottish KIA Oct 8-9 1916
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Victory Medal 16th Canadian Scottish KIA Oct 8-9 1916
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Victory Medal issued to the relatives of 420196 Private Robert MURDIE. (Please note that Murdie originally was assigned the regimental number A/20196. The medal is correctly inscribed 420196 PTE. R. MURDIE 16-CAN INF.) Robert Murdie was born on Christmas Day, 1877, in Coldstream Scotland. He enlisted with the 43rd Battalion (Cameron Highlanders of Canada) at Winnipeg on January 8th, 1915. He arrived in France on July 17th, 1915 and served at the front with the kilted 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) of the 1st Canadian Division. He was killed on October 8th or 9th, 1916 during an attack on Regina Trench, near the village of Le Sars, on the Somme. This action is famous for the Victoria Cross action of Piper Jimmy Richardson. (Richardson went missing after the action. Murdie's and Richardson's remains were recovered after the war and buried in ADANAC Cemetery near Courcelette.)It's difficult to find Somme casualties with identified graves.I have written an article about Jimmy Richardson for the Chilliwack Times. It is reproduced below. I ship all over the world $2 to Canada USA $5 to the UK. 'BAGPIPES NOT FOR EVERYONE' by Michel GRAVEL In September of 1914, the 16 th Infantry Battalion ( Canadian Scottish) , sailed from Québec City for England onboard the steamer Andania. The vessel was part of a large armada carrying the first contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, destined for the battlefields of France and Flanders. The kilted men of the Canadian Scottish, following Highland tradition, had great expectations of being accompanied into eventual battle to the skirl of bagpipes . In the mean time, while onboard ship, the battalion's Pipers contented themselves by playing reveille at 05:30, every morning. Unfortunately, all the ship's company did not share the enthusiasm for the skirl of the pipes. Sharing space with the Canadian Scottish was half of the 14 th Battalion ( Royal Montreal Regiment ), a composite unit recruited from Montreal's prewar unkilted militia (the Victoria Rifles , the Grenadier Guards and French-Canadian Fusillier Mont-Royal ). (With these regimental roots to draw upon, the Royal Montreal Regiment was the antithesis of a Highland regiment.) This said, the RMR's Protestant Chaplain, Frederick Scott, attempted to understand the Piper's music: ...Not being a Scotsman, the music always woke me up. At such moments I considered it my duty to try to understand the music of the pipes. But in the early hours of the morning I made what I thought were discoveries. First I found out that all pipe melodies have the same bass. Secondly I found out that all pipe melodies have the same treble... Not all were as open minded and the playing of the bagpipes almost brought the two battalions to blows. It was alleged by the Canadian Scottish historian that, at one point, men of the Royal Montreal Regiment interfered with Piper Jimmy Richardson's rehearsals. (Richardson was a Scottish-born resident of Chilliwack, British Columbia.) According to the 16 th Battalion historian, the men of the Canadian Scottish reacted swiftly to this interference by the unkilted men from Montreal: The news spread that around and the 16 th men...gatd together, called out the complete Pipe Band, escorted them to the 14 th Battalion quarters and stood guard t whilst the pipers played to their hearts content. Frederick Scott recorded his version of the incident. It seems the Royal Montreal Regiment improvised an effective weapon to counter the Highlander invasion: On one occasion the pipers left the security of the Highlander's quarters and invaded the precinct of the 14 th Battalion, who retaliated by turning the hose on them. A genuine battle between the contending factions was only avoided by the diplomacy of the O.C. (Officer Commanding.) No casualties were reported in what was the first battle of the Great War for these two Battalions. Two years later, Piper Jimmy Richardson gained immortal fame at Regina Trench, near the village of Le Sars o...
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