The Black Watch (the Royal Highland Regiment) is a prime and highly respected regiment in Scotland. Its contributions in different great and small wars are unquestionable—from the Jacobite Rising to Waterloo, two world wars, and modern wars such as the Korean War and Iraq. The Black Watch was the last British military unit to leave Hong Kong in 1997, and it played a prominent role in the handover ceremony.

Edited by Derek Patrick of the University of St Andrew's and Fraser Brown of the Black Watch Association, The Black Watch in the Great War: Rediscovered Histories from the Regimental Family is a collection written by members of the regimental family—those who have worn the Red Hackle, descendants of the Black Watch soldiers of 1914–1918, close associates of the regiment, and professional historians. Based on a combination of personal memoirs and contemporary historical research, the book provides moving personal accounts of those who served in Europe and the Middle East, where around eight thousand soldiers were killed.

The book is a vital complement to the history of the First World War in preserving veterans’ experience and memories. These memories had often been hidden from view, as most of the soldiers who returned from the war did not talk publicly about the horrors of the war. Furthermore, many letters and communication records were censored by the War Office at the time and could not be made public.

As a Scottish regiment, the discussion of the role of the Pipes and Drums in the war is one of the highlights in the book. Pipe Major Alistair Duthie, a New Zealander who served in the Black Watch between 1988 and 2008, and Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Irwin, the adjutant-general to the Forces from 2000 to 2003, provide much historical information about the musical and operational contributions of the pipe bands, and their experiences are referred to throughout the book.

Irwin's chapter provides the account of Sandy Grieve, a soldier-piper from Fife. Grieve, a soldier during the final years of Queen Victoria's reign, was deployed to South Africa for the Second Boer War. After the Second Boer War, Grieve left the Black Watch, settled in South Africa with his wife and child, and joined the Transvaal Scottish Regiment, a regiment allied to the Black Watch (members still wear the Red Hackle today) in South Africa. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Grieve applied for active service, was appointed as the pipe major of the 4th South African Infantry and deployed to the Western Front with the Transvaal Scottish Regiment to defend the British Empire together with his old regiment—the Black Watch.

Grieve's story is a great piece of writing. Irwin provides one of the many unknown histories, leading the reader through the life of a fellow piper whose extraordinary service was incredible on many levels. Unfortunately, there are still many unknown stories, as many warriors did not receive official honors in the form of bravery decorations during the First World War. In fact, over the last two centuries, many members of the Black Watch followed the step of the Scottish diaspora, moving to different British colonies around the world and serving the empire as members of the local regiments with Scottish links and traditions over the last two centuries, including the 1st New Zealand Scottish Regiment, Transvaal Scottish Regiment, Cape Town Highlanders Regiment, the New South Wales Scottish Regiment, the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, and notably the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada.

As an experienced senior noncommissioned officer, Duthie offers an understanding of the daily life of the regimental bagpiper during the war, describing how pipers and drummers were actually employed. Duthie breaks the stereotype of the role of bagpipers, explaining that bagpipers did not just lead the way, advancing in front of their comrades. In fact, many pipers and drummers acted as stretcher-bearers during the Great War and they had to clean the battlefields of their wounded comrades. Cleaning up the battlefields was no easy task: they faced intense bombardment, including explosive shells and gas. During the Great War, 516 bagpipers served in twenty-five battalions of the Black Watch, with 382 deployed to the front line; 78 were killed, 103 injured, and 6 taken as prisoners of war.

Apart from unknown soldiers’ stories and histories, the book also includes material about pipe bands and their activities that will attract everyone who knows Black Watch and the Great War. One of the examples is an original music composition appearing in the chapter about the Croix de Guerre that was awarded to the 6th (Perthshire) Battalion of the Black Watch for the actions that took place in the Second Battle of the Marne between 20 July and 30 July 1918.

The Black Watch was awarded sixty-nine battle honors during the First World War, and four members of the Black Watch received the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award of the British honors system. During the Great War, approximately 560,000 Scots enlisted in the British Army and 135,000 of them, along with around 8,000 from the Black Watch, lost their lives; most were killed in Flanders fields. Today, people in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand wear a poppy, gather at the Cenotaph or different war memorials, and read the war poem In Flanders Fields to remember the deaths of Remembrance Day (or Remembrance Sunday). Brown and Patrick's book provides an opportunity to think about why we see a pipe band or a lone piper to perform The Flowers of the Forest at the Cenotaph or different war memorials every Remembrance Day.