B137902 Pte Cameron, Allan Mcleod, enlisted with the 48th Highlanders on 01 January 1943. Cameron was running his farm in Artemesia Township in Grey County and since 29 October 1940 had been a member of the Volunteer Civil Guard. Having sold the farm in 1942, Allan Cameron went with his friend Grant Muir to enlist with the 48th Highlanders on New Year’s Day, 1 January 1943 at MD 2 in Toronto . Both were assigned to the Pipe Band with the trade level “Band Piper, CTP 5”. Cameron’s father had taught both Cameron and Muir to play. Pte Cameron began his training on Toronto’s Canadian National Exhibition grounds and was assigned Stall #4 in the Horse Palace. Training was completed at No. 26 Army (Basic) Training Camp in Orillia. Pte Cameron went by train to Halifax where he embarked on the Queen Mary on 14 September 1943, arriving in England on the 19th and was placed in the Holding Unit.
Pte Cameron sailed on 1 August 1944 to join the 1st Battalion in Italy in mid-August when the battalion was south of the Metauro River, on the Adriatic side of Italy, preparing to attack the Gothic Line. Cameron, a first class piper had been chosen to attend the Edinburgh School of Piping, the most prestigious piping school at the time. Only the very best pipers were sent there. Allan said he came to fight, not to play the pipes, so he was happy to be sent to Italy two or three weeks before he was due to attend the Edinburgh School. Pte Cameron joined the Pipe Band in BHQ and was assigned to C Company as piper and stretcher bearer. He was in the battles through the Gothic Line and the Rimini Line. Members of the Pipe Band were trained to the same level as all soldiers, piping being an added role.
In a letter dated 26 December, when the battalion was between the Lamone and Senio Rivers, Pte Cameron wrote: “About three weeks ago (7th of Dec. to be exact), we (the 48th H. Band) were sent on a tour of hospitals and army camps for the benefit of those places. Cattolica is the name of the place from which we left to go on the trip from. You will find it on the east side of Italy on the shore of Adriatic just below Rimini. The most southern point of our trip was Avelina [Avellino] about 30 miles from Naples. We travelled in a truck all the way there and back. On the way down we passed through Rome and spent a few days there as our leave. The trip was leave and business combined for the band. While in Rome I had a picture taken in what is known as the Canada Club. It was run by the Knights of Columbus and the Salvation Army.“
Pte Cameron remained with the battalion when they, and the 1st Division transferred from Italy to Marseille, France on the way to complete the final liberation of Holland in April 1945. When the war was over, he, and the battalion, embarked from NW Europe on 4 September arriving in the UK on 5 September as the fist leg of the trip back to Canada.
Cameron’s son Alexander (Sandy) continued the 48th tradition spending a summer in the 1960s with the Pipe Band.
NOK: Mrs. Elsie Cameron, Durham, Ontario