There Was a Piper, a Scottish Piper: Memoirs of Pipe Major John T MacKenzie

J.L. Granatstein, Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus,
York University, served as Director of the Canadian War Museum from 1998
to 2000. He is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and co-author
of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Infl

Born in 1920 in Edinburgh, Scotland, John MacKenzie saw service in the
British Army from 1935, enlisting as a boy piper. He fought in North
Africa, stayed in the army after the war, rising in esteem as a piper
all the while. In 1952, the Royal Canadian Air Force recruited MacKenzie
as Pipe Major, an offer he accepted because the pay was good (the
equivalent of 26Ј a week) compared to what he could get in the United
Kingdom. MacKenzie then served with the RCAF in England, Canada, and
NATO until his retirement in 1970. His piping career continued with 20
years of teaching, and continues still in his retirement.

As a book, this account will be of most interest to pipers and
historians of piping. Ordinary readers will not find much to hold them.