The bagpiper who will lead a sunrise piping at McCrae House on Sunday morning says the pipes he will be playing for the Remembrance Day event were likely heard on the battlefield by his own great grandfather during World War I.
On Sunday at 6 a.m., The Guelph Pipe Band, led by pipe major Tyler Bridge, will perform ‘Battle’s O’er’ to mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I.
Bridge said he has many connections to war. Both of Bridge’s grandfathers served in World War II and his great grandfather John Harris served with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in Scotland from 1900 until 1918.
“When war broke out (Harris) transferred to the 1st Battalion Camerons and shipped off to France just a few days after,” said Bridge.
Harris served in some of the worst places along the Western Front, including The Second Battle of Passchendaele, Mons, the Marne, Aisne, as well as The First Battle of Ypres, where he was wounded by gas.
“He survived the war and went on the be a clock repairman in Edinburgh until he retired,” said Bridge.
The sunrise piping is a worldwide initiative started by the National Piping Centre in Glasgow Scotland to mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the signing of the armistice.
“Everyone will be playing a famous pipe tune called The Battle's O'er at 6 a.m. their local time to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the signing of the armistice in WW I,” said Bridge.
Staff at John McCrae House have informed neighbours in advance of the early morning bagpiping.
“We think it is particularly fitting to be doing this at the childhood home of Col. John McCrae, given the significance of his poem to remembering those who gave their lives in WW I,” said Bridge.
The bagpipe Bridge will be playing during the sunrise piping once belonged to a man named Thomas Clark, who also served in the Cameron Highlanders in the same battalion and at the same time as his great grandfather John Harris.
“The instrument has a personal connection to me as it was a bagpipe that my great grandfather very likely heard and came into contact with during his service in the army,” said Bridge.
The instrument was recently given to the Guelph Air Cadet pipe band, where Bridge teaches.
At 9 a.m. On Sunday, The Royal Canadian Legion, Colonel John McCrae Memorial Branch 234, will present a Remembrance Day service at McCrae Memorial Gardens, adjacent to McCrae House.
