Pipe dreams: Scottish American Military Society plays on

Don Scoby, commander of the Scottish American Military Society Pig War Post 1859 in North Whidbey, has always been fascinated by bagpipes.

When he was growing up in North Seattle, Scoby approached bagpipers at a parade and asked how he could learn to play. They told him to seek an instructor.

In the 1980s, Shorecrest High School in Shoreline was one of the only schools in the country to offer bagpiping. So, Scoby transferred schools and walked across town every day to attend Shorecrest and play the Highland bagpipe.

The Veterans Day Parade in Oak Harbor was one of many opportunities in recent years for Scoby to inspire others the way he was inspired, along with his fellow marchers in the Scottish American Military Society.

“I’d be very happy to play until they put me in the ground,” he said.

When Scoby set off to form what would become a new post of the Scottish American Military Society in 2020, he first envisioned a pipe band. As he brought his band to organize with Post 1889 out of Seattle, he thought, why turn members away for not playing an instrument?

Thus, Post 1859, the Scottish American Military Society group of pipers-and-not, Scottish-and-not, veterans-and-not, was founded.

The first post formed in North Carolina in 1981 with the mission of exchanging military history and genealogical information, conducting public education programs, presenting military student honor awards, supporting Scottish activities and events, contributing to scholarships and charity and providing fraternity. The society now has branches across the United States.

Posts have fun with their numbers, Scoby said. Post 1889 comes from the year the state was incorporated. The Las Vegas post is 777 for the slot machines. Because the other founding member of Scoby’s pipe band lived in British Columbia with the San Juan Islands between them, the two decided to name it after the short-lived conflict over the Canadian border. Thus, Pig War Post 1859 was born.

Members do not have to be Scottish to join the society, Scoby said. Many attribute the advent of the bagpipe, which he noted is an umbrella term for many types of bagpipes, to Scotland, but this is not the case. Bagpipe history is murky, as similar instruments were found in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. They spread across Europe and parts of Asia, becoming especially prominent in the Scottish military.

Despite not being a veteran herself, Scottish American Military Society Vice Commander Heidi Hiatt serves in multiple veteran organizations to honor her ancestors, who fought in every American war since the French and Indian War prior to the Revolution.

“It’s the right way, to be involved in both respect our forebearers, but also all of our veterans and our Commonwealth veterans and some of the horrible, just horrific prices that were paid,” she said.

Multiple times a year, Post Was 1859 hosts “Kilted Night Out,” an event that welcomes other veterans organizations to dine and listen to speakers in uniform.

“It’s fun, because you get kind of a meeting of the minds,” Hiatt said, “and everybody shares what’s going on in their organization, so we can mutually assist each other with what they’re doing for veterans.”

In February, a regional commander spoke about dirks, the knife Scottish Americans wear in their kilt. Local historian Lynn Hyde presented on the Pig War. Society members took turns reading a Robert Burns poem with accents and voted on the winner.

“We’ll just do off the wall stuff like that,” Hiatt said. “It’s just a blast to get everybody in one room.”

Every July, Post 1859 also appears at the Seattle Scottish Highland Games, a celebration of Scottish arts and traditions. For more information or to join the Scottish American Military Society Pig War Post 1859, email pigwar1859comm@gmail.com.

Heidi Hiatt and Don Scoby of the Scottish American Military Society show support at the procession of Serena Wileman, an aviator who recently lost her life. (Photo by Sam Fletcher)