The Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum

29/08/2020

Hero dog to receive UK's highest military honour for animals

Well done, Kuno!

Kuno charged through enemy gunfire to save the lives of British soldiers.

29/08/2020

Edinburgh Tattoo donates £340,000 to military charities despite cancelled season - Evening Express

Well done, The Edinburgh Tattoo!

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is to donate £340,000 to charities across the UK, despite this year’s shows being cancelled.

24/08/2020

This year's 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) at the Veterans' Monument in Knightswood, Glasgow had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown. However, veterans are nothing if not adaptable and a moving commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the End of WWII was held instead - adhering to all government guidance of social distancing and so on.

The usual programme of service in the Parish Church of St Margaret, followed by an act of remembrance at the Monument and a parade down the Great Western Road for well-earned refreshments at the Lincoln Inn, clearly would not be appropriate.

Instead, a short service was held and wreaths laid at the Monument and the anniversary was marked by the dedication of 5 trees (Frans Fontaine), for service in WWII, by: HMS Glasgow; Sergeant J Hannah VC, Royal Air Force; Sergeant J T Schrivener, Private J Moran and Private J Lamont - all veterans of The Highland Light Infantry.

The Lord Provost of Glasgow, Councillor Philip Braat, himself an officer of the Naval Reserve, unveiled the plaque dedicating the tree to HMS Glasgow; and the families of the other recipients unveiled the plaques on the other trees - with the notable exception of Private John Lamont! I had the honour of introducing John and he unveiled his own plaque with the help of his son and grandson.

We believe that John is the last surviving member of 6th Battalion, The Highland Light Infantry (6 HLI); however, there may well be someone out there who knows better - we would love to hear from you!

The staff of the Lincoln Inn welcomed the assembled throng, with all appropriate precautions in place; for which we were extremely grateful. No parade with standards flying, but veterans were grateful for the fleet of taxis provided by Glasgow City Council.

A huge thank-you should also go to Bill McDonald and his son, Josh, who created the beautiful granite plaques and donated the new bench for the site - Bill, a veteran of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, owns a monumental masonry business in Bannockburn (Lest We Forget).

Hopefully, next year, the VE Day service and parade will be back to normal; however, as this was a special year for WWII veterans, perhaps it was only fitting that there should be a special commemoration.

14/08/2020

Happy Birthday, Cruachan, from everyone at the Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum!

Our beloved Regimental mascot, Cpl Cruachan IV celebrated his 11th birthday this week! It has become customary for the Officer Commanding Balaklava Company to give him a light refreshment to mark the occasion!

This fantastic tradition is usually completed at #Balmoral Castle following the arrival of Her Majesty The Queen, as under normal circumstances Cpl Cruachan would be on Royal Guard with #SCOTS at this time of year but this week he is at home in Redford.

Cpl Cruachan IV is a great source of morale for our #WeAreInfantry Soldiers. Whether they are proudly marching through a Scottish town, deploying on Operations or on Exercise his mischievous character brings a smile to the Regimental family.

Happy Birthday Cpl Cruachan.

30/07/2020

Dutch woman who tended Scots soldier's grave dies

Dutch woman who tended Scots soldier's grave dies

Willemien Rieken had looked after the grave of the soldier killed in World War Two since she was a girl.

25/07/2020

75th Anniversary of VJ Day

15 August 2020

At 11.00 am on 15 August 2020 the nation will commemorate the 75th Anniversary of VJ Day with a nationwide two minute silence as an Act of Remembrance.

This year’s commemoration will be broadcast on BBC One from the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and will incorporate wreath-laying at several of the relevant memorials and artefacts linked to the WW2 campaign in South-East Asia.

In evening on BBC One, there will be a 90 minute broadcast based on a MoD-led commemorative programme from London.

22/07/2020

During the last months of coronavirus lockdown, Jimmy Fraser, Chairman of the Inverness Branch and members of his branch have been keeping in touch with Royal Highland Fusiliers veterans by having weekly Zoom meetings. These meetings have been very popular and veterans tune in from all over the UK and as far away as Cyprus.

This week, Jimmy presented his Zoom meeting from the RHF Museum in order to surprise Bobby Steele, who recently retired after 14 years as Regimental Secretary RHF & Area Secretary West of The Royal Regiment of Scotland.

During the meeting, Jimmy presented Colonel Bobby with a very beautiful crummock that the Inverness Branch had had specially made for him. Officers of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders have a long tradition of carrying crummocks, so this was a particularly fitting and touching present and he vowed to carry it in memory of his 14 happy years with the RHF.

I was also very surprised and extremely grateful to receive a lovely gift of an equally beautiful pen set - even though the RHF Museum is stuck with me for a wee while yet! Perhaps, having seen my disgraceful scrawl, the veterans hoped that the gift would improve my handwriting.

Bobby and I have always been made to feel very welcome by the RHF veterans and are both extremely grateful for our lovely presents - Thank you one and all.

02/07/2020

Tuesday 30 June 2020 marked the end of an era at 518 Sauchiehall Street!

Colonel Bobby Steele TD DL JP retired from his post as Area Secretary West of The Royal Regiment of Scotland & Regimental Secretary of The Royal Highland Fusiliers after some 14 years service.

Colonel Keiron Potts, Regimental Secretary of The Royal Regiment of Scotland, presented him with a specially-commissioned caricature, which included many aspects of his years of service and civilian past-times since entering Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in January 1964.

Colonel Potts is also retiring and was presented with a whisky glass engraved with an RHF cap badge.

Colonel Steele will not be idle in his retirement as he continues to be involved with many charities: he is the Chairman of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Association; a Deputy Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire; Chairman of Dunbartonshire SSAFA; Chairman of the Loch Lomond Rescue Boat - to name but a few!

The staff and volunteers at the RHF Museum wish Colonel Steele a happy, if busy, retirement!

27/06/2020

27/06/2020

To mark Armed Forces Day, HM The Queen has issued a message of support to members of the Armed Forces community, thanking them for the role they play in keeping the UK safe. The Armed Forces are proud to share a close connection with Her Majesty, their Commander-in-Chief.

Read more: https://www.royal.uk/message-her-majesty-queen-armed-forces-day

23/06/2020

Armed Forces Day

Show your support for our Armed Forces this week by adding the Armed Forces Day logo to your profile picture 👇

23/06/2020

National Memorial Arboretum

Less than a week to go to Armed Forces Day 2020!

CSgt Lukas Baud (Oxfordshire Army Cadet Force) raises the flag at the start of Armed Forces Week in the presence of Army and Navy veterans, and members of staff.

13/06/2020

Trooping the Colour 2020: Queen's official birthday celebrated with Royal Salute at Windsor Castle

Happy Official Birthday, Ma'am!

Trooping the Colour has been cancelled for only the second time during the Queen's reign due to the coronavirus pandemic

12/06/2020

Army in the South West

Army in the South West

On 12th June 1940 at 10am the 51st Highland Division including elements from English regiments along with French soldiers were forced to surrender to the German army at St Valéry-en-Caux on the Normandy coast of France; the aftermath of the mass Dunkirk evacuations.

Wiltshire based Pipe Major Trevor Macey-Lillie of 19th Regiment Royal Artillery - The Scottish Gunners joined musicians worldwide in a pipers tribute of ‘The Heroes of St Valéry’ to remember those soldiers from ‘The Forgotten Dunkirk’.
Poppyscotland Legion Scotland RCET - Scotland's Armed Forces Children's Charity Royal Artillery #LestWeForget

10/06/2020

Something to look forward to!

Join us from Monday 22 June in the lead up to #ArmedForcesDay as we take you behind the scenes each day with our Armed Forces, from the comfort of your own home! 🏡

Although we may not be able to celebrate together in person, join us here for exclusive content, Q&As and live events throughout the week. #SaluteOurForces

Find out more here: http://ow.ly/pzo550A2W4u

09/06/2020

Kelvingrove Park statues vandalised with graffiti

Sadly, the Boer War memorial, depicting a Highland Light Infantry soldier, in Kelvingrove Park has been vandalised by Black Lives Matter.

You may remember that it was repaired recently after vandals used a hammer to smash parts of the memorial. Fortunately, this time, it appears to be paint, which should not be too difficult to remove and restore the memorial.

Two other statues: Sir Thomas Carlyle, also in Kelvingrove Park and Sir Robert Peel in George Square were also sprayed with paint.

https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/kelvingrove-park-statues-vandalised-graffiti-18380595

The Boer War memorial and Thomas Carlyle statue have both been spraypainted.

06/06/2020

"Normandy"
by Cyril Crain, a Juno veteran

Come and stand in memory
Of men who fought and died
They gave their lives in Normandy
Remember them with pride.

Soldiers, Airman, sailors
Airborne and marines
Who in civvy life were tailors
and men who worked machines.

British and Canadian
And men from USA
Forces from the Commonwealth
They all were there that day

To Juno, Sword and Utah
Beaches of renown
Also Gold and Omaha
That’s where the ramps went down.

The battle raged in Normandy
Many lives were lost
The war must end in victory
And this must be the cost

When my life is over
And I reach the other side
I’ll meet my friends from Normandy
And shake their hands with pride.

04/06/2020

Normandy tribute

Message from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

REMEMBERING NORMANDY
On 6 June 2019, at Bayeux War Cemetery and at CWGC sites across Normandy and the world, we celebrated the men and women who fought and died on D-Day and in the days immediately following the invasion. This year the world looks very different and for the safety of people around the world we must abide by travel restrictions.

We know that commemorating those who died in the wars is important to you, so let us help you commemorate the fallen of Normandy. If you have someone that you remember and who is buried at one of the eighteen cemeteries in the Normandy area, or whose name is inscribed on the Bayeux Memorial, our gardeners, now back at work, while observing all safe distancing practices, will be pleased to lay a tribute for you.

The link for this is: https://www.cwgc.org/share-your-tribute/normandy-tribute?fbclid=IwAR0QM_ii5AdXyeu_9U2qbUza6vW9GBz3CSGOGanWsdUeR88Sf2ZWiQR8j60

Normandy tribute

04/06/2020

Today, 4 June marks the last day of the Dunkirk evacuation - those 11 days in 1940 when, against all odds, over 338,000 troops were rescued from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk.

The Miracle of Dunkirk, as it is often called, was achieved by a combination of large ships of the Royal Navy and a flotilla of small ships that included speedboats, Thames vessels, car ferries, pleasure craft, and many other types of small craft. These small ships ferried the soldiers out to the larger ships and also brought as many across the Channel as they could.

His Majesty King George VI requested that Sunday 26 May should be observed as a National Day of Prayer. In a stirring broadcast, he called the people of Britain and of the Empire to commit their cause to God. Together with members of the Cabinet, the King attended Westminster Abbey, whilst millions of his subjects in all parts of the Commonwealth and Empire flocked to the churches to join in prayer.

But, perhaps, we forget the person who masterminded the whole operation: Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, KCB, KBE, MVO. He had commanded the destroyer HMS Broke during WWI and was coaxed out of retirement by Sir Winston Churchill and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Dover on 24 August 1939. His duties included overseeing the defence against possible destroyer raids, the protection of cross-Channel military traffic and the denial of the passage through the Straits of Dover by submarines.

However, it was the planning of the evacuation of the Dunkirk beaches, code-named Operation Dynamo that Admiral Ramsay is best-known - he and his staff worked for 9 straight days in the tunnels below Dover Castle coordinating the amazingly complex and dangerous operation.

He and his staff continued to defend our shores against the expected German invasion and then was prominent in the planning of major Naval operations until he was killed in a plane crash on 2 January 1945.

10/05/2020

Commemoration of VE Day was not forgotten on the Isle of Cumbrae; as on Friday 8 May at 11 am; one of our veterans, John F Kennedy, accompanied by mascot, Meg the Westie, laid a wreath at the WWII War Memorial.

Piper Eric Smith was on hand to play appropriate tunes.

John, perhaps better known "JFK" was originally a member of 1st Battalion, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who transferred to 1st Battalion, The Royal Highland Fusiliers when the Argylls were reduced to Balaklava Company in 1971.

John's younger brother, Alastair "Yogi" Kennedy remained with the Argylls.

09/05/2020

Yesterday, a small number of members of the Armed Forces gathered together at the Central Station in Glasgow to commemorate VE Day and to observe the 2 minutes silence at 11 am.

Sadly, due to the coronavirus lockdown, numbers had to be limited; however, Standards of The Highland Light Infantry Association and Glasgow & West of Scotland Branch of The Parachute Regimental Association were on parade.

Well done to everyone who took part; not forgetting, of course, that you featured on the TV!

08/05/2020

Today is the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945.

However, it was not the day on which the surrender was actually signed; and, when I thinking about how to mark this day for the Museum, I was reminded of a veteran from one of our antecedent regiments who came into the Museum a couple of years ago and told how he was involved with the so-called Surrender Stone.

Obviously, we are in lockdown at the moment, so I have no access to my notes, which are in the Museum; however, I think that this veteran had been a member of The HIghland Light Infantry - I apologise if he had been a Royal Scots Fusilier - my memory is not what it was! Anyway, he had been a National Serviceman in Germany in 1958 and, together with some of his fellows, he was due to return to the UK to be demobbed - but the Army had one last task for them to do on the way home!

They were sent to Luneburg Heath to dismantle the Luneburg Heath Memorial and accompany it back to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst to be reassembled on the Square, where it still stands today.

So, what does this have to do with VE Day?

Clearly, VE Day did not just happen - it took some time to negotiate the surrender, particularly, as the Allies were adamant that it had to be an Unconditional Surrender. Lüneburg had been captured by the British forces on 18 April 1945 with Field Marshall Montgomery establishing his headquarters at a villa in the village of Häcklingen. Following these negotiations, on 4 May 1945, Field Marshall Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender of the German forces in a carpeted tent at his Headquarters on Timeloberg hill, which he later renamed Victory Hill.

Shortly after the event, a small oak plaque was erected on the spot; sadly, this was quickly stolen, replaced and defaced again.

In November 1945, a much larger memorial, weighing 9 tons replaced the wooden plaque..

Five Germans were employed to guard the memorial night and day. By the end of 1955 the annual cost of security was over DM100,000 and the guard was withdrawn. The following month, the bronze text was stolen and the stonework defaced. A new bronze panel was produced and the local Burgermeister was held responsible for its security. For three years the monument remained unguarded (and undamaged) but, in 1958, following a visit by Field Marshal Montgomery, the memorial was moved to RMA Sandhurst.

So, this important memorial was entrusted to our National Serviceman and his friends; and quite rightly, he was was extremely proud of his part in history!

Everyone at the Museum (in lockdown) wishes everyone a very Happy VE Day and we hope that you enjoy the celebrations!

Some film footage of the rededication of the Stone at RMA Sandhurst can be seen at http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/8bbc84c2f3a440fa93504a321c4e953b