Black Watch

part of the 2nd and 3rd light infantry battalions

and the 42nd infantry, which is the Black Watch, a famous British infantry unit, they start winning this skirmish.

So Knowlton, who only has about 120, 150 men...

He starts retreat and the British start to pursue.

Um, and, um- And I became very attached to it, and I became very attached to him and understanding the stories of his time in service.

Uh, what I might add is I, uh, you know, a grandfather who sort of served in the Black Watch.

And so, um, when it came to the time of deciding what I would do in my life, I was very attracted naturally towards the armed forces.

And at the point that my grandfather, grandmother turned to me and said, "Well, of course, Neil, should you join the Army, this sword will be yours." And, um, uh, it wasn't just the material benefit of eventually owning a sword-

So what I think I've hopefully described to you is a early connection to Scotland, uh, through my grandparents, through my maternal, um, family, side of the family.

And I served for my first three years in Inverness, um, and enjoying the delights of that part of Scotland, a- and traveling around as well, as you can imagine.

And then because the Black Watch transformed into the Royal Regiments of Scotland and I was able to return either to a headquarters for the Black Watch in Perth or regularly to headquarters in Edinburgh, and all the other activities that took place within Scotland, inevitably I think I have grown to both love and understand, uh, what being in Scotland and what being a Scot i- is really all about.

Mm.

But the battle we're interested in is the one that took place in November 1952, which was the first action of the Third Battalion, Princess Patricia's.

The Hook was held by the Black Watch, you know, the Royal Highlanders, and they were very fortunate to be the men who were in support of them.

So they're actually in these little valleys over here.

They had two companies, and the companies were in consecutive order, so if anything went wrong, they would move up into varying positions.

[gunshots] I am scared now.

The reality of battle death came the instant I saw the bodies of the Scots.

[gunshots] [bombs exploding] To their credit, they came up through here, and by the time they had arrived, uh, another unit of the Black Watch had recaptured the position, so they were able to drive off the Communists.

[dramatic music] But you can see from here as well, you get a really nice view of the Communist positions, and they're much closer here.

He first served in the one hundred ninety-third Battalion as a sniper, but after several successful shots, he realized he didn't wanna be so close to death.

Eventually, he was able to become a patrolman in the forty-second Battalion, known as the Black Watch.

It was with the Black Watch that William would have his second major unexplainable event.

It was a deathly cold night in nineteen seventeen as the Great War raged through the European continent.

Each evening, every entrenched soldier had made peace with the fact that he may not see tomorrow.

Many of them lay restless from fears as small as rats nibbling at their digits and as large as falling shells erasing their existence.

This included the men of the Black Watch.

In the dead of night, amidst the bleak and frozen trenches of the Western Front, now lay William Bird as he fought for sleep.