Pipe Tune

During my younger years in Arbroath my late father, William Addison Anderson and the late Brigadier James A. Oliver were partners in the former law firm of Clark Oliver Dewar & Webster. During the Second World War Brigadier James A. Oliver was in action at the Battle of El Alamein. Brigadier Oliver went back to Alamein in 1954 for the Unveiling and Dedication of the El Alamein War Memorial by Field Marshal Montgomery. In honour of this visit Pipe Major Duncan MacFarlane, formerly Pipe Major of the Royal British Legion (Scotland), composed a pipe tune called Brigadier Oliver’s Return to Alamein 1954. Can any reader tell me if this tune is still played today by pipe bands around the world and on what occasions?

Patrick W Anderson AndrsP254@aol.com

 

Seaman Angus McIntyre

For a book I am writing, I am seeking information about Angus McIntyre, first mate of the South African tugboat Sir Charles Elliot, which stranded off the Skeleton Coast of South West Africa (now Namibia) in 1942 during the failed rescue attempts involving the Liverpool-registered cargo vessel, Dunedin Star. Angus McIntyre was swept away in the currents and his body was never found: there is a grave site for his colleague Matthias Koraseb, and McIntyre is mentioned on it. I would like to know where Angus McIntyre was from, what motivated him to go to South Africa during the war, and if he has any living relatives who might have mementoes.

Simon Winchester simonwinchester@mac.com