Flight of the Heron read-along: Part V chapter 5 and Epilogue

[regshoe]

Better loved ye cannae be...

The final chapter.

I'm planning to do a sort of wrap-up post in a couple of days' time for any last thoughts, and to recommend some Flight of the Heron fic and some other books that may be of interest. I will say goodbye and thank you properly then!

Comments

[hyarrowen]

Much less inspiring, though! And the bagpipes served a similar though not identical purpose in Highland regiments at least until WW2. George MacDonald Fraser describes how the pipers swept everyone up in a charge in an advance on a village occupied by Japanese forces - it's in "The General Danced at Dawn" and it's got the same sort of feel to it. Tradition and pride and all that.

[owl]

The pipes seemed to be considered something of an offensive weapon by themselves (Keith would probably agree...). When the Colonel orders 'young Dand' aka GMF to take his platoon to guard a remote desert fort for a fortnight, he adds, 'And I'll send you with a piper.'

Keith would definitely sympathise with the junior officers of the battalion when the reveille for the battalion consists of the pipe band playing 'Hey Johnny Cope' right outside their windows at 6am....

[hyarrowen]

Being woken up by "Johnny Cope" at a distance of six feet is obviously the sort of experience that stays with you for life... I love those stories; they are of their time, but the family feel of the Regiment is all there, and the Colonel and the sergeants obviously did a wonderful job of keeping things running smoothly.