Did you know....

 that there were Scots in the Army of Joan of Arc? A Scottish artist painted her banner, and another was "present up to her life's end" at Rouen in 1431. During her lifetime the Gardes Ecossaises (Scots Guards) were formed, and they remained the official bodyguards of the Kings and Queens of France until 1830.

 that although there were no native Scots in the ranks of the French Army, each French soldier was required to answer when challenged, "I am here," in Scottish Gaelic?

 that there were Scottish regulars fighting for the Protestant King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, from 1618-1648, during the 30-years War?

 that the Cameron of Erracht regimental tartan, worn by the 79th Cameronian Volunteers (later 'The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders), is actually the Clan MacDonald tartan sea with three red lines eliminated and one yellow over-stripe from the Clan Cameron tartan sett added? It is claimed that the Cameron of Erracht tartan was designed by either the mother or grandmother of Alan Cameron who raised the Regiment in 1793, the former being a MacLean, the latter a MacDonald.

 that when 200 men of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, raised in 1793, were frozen to death in Holland in 1793, and the Duke of York revealed the plan to disband the pitifully-reduced Regiment, Major Alan Cameron, the Commanding Officer retorted defiantly: "Ye may tell the King, your Father, that he may send us to Hell if he likes, and I'll gae at the heid of them, but he daurna draft us!"? The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders Regiment is still intact!

 that the Royal Scots Fusiliers Regiment, raised in 1678, was twice dispatched to fight for England against America: in the American Revolution and in the War of 1812?

 that Sir Thomas Dalzell. the renowned 17th Century Scottish General who is credited with raising the Royal Scots Greys, never shaved his beard after the execution of his King, Charles I, thus keeping a solemn vow?

 that the beautiful grey horses, adopted in 1702, for which the Royal Scots Greys Regiment, founded in 1678, has been so justly proud and famous, were dyed a chestnut color for camouflage when the Regiment entered the Great War of 1914-1918?

 that the first battles fought by the pro-Catholic Scots Guards Regiment, raised in 1660, were against their own people who were Presbyterian-Covenanters?

 that the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) Regiment, raised in 1689, was made up of Presbyterian-Covenanters, and repeatedly fought against the return of the Roman Catholic Stewart Kings to the throne of Scotland?

 that the London Scottish Regiment, raised in 1859, accepts, as it always has, only those volunteers and recruits who are proved to be London-born Scots, or those who have lived in, and have been employed in London for a long period of time?

 that the Gordon Highlanders Regiment was raised in 1793 by the famous beauty, the Duchess of Gordon, whose promise of a golden guinea and a kiss on the lips to every recruit brought volunteers flocking to join the Regiment?

 that during the Battle of Steenkirk in 1692, one battalion of the Royal Scots Regiment, raised in 1633, drove hack four battalions of the French Army?

 that in 1775, the 2nd Battalion of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, raised in 1689, was captured by the French while en route to the West Indies, but over-powered the enemy's crew, and sailed off under their own command to join the 1st Battalion in Granada?

 that it was the English statesman William Pitt, "friend of America," who urged the recruiting of Scottish Highlanders for the British Army after the Jacobite uprisings were past history, stating that "they served with fidelity as they fought with valor, and conquered for you in every quarter of the world"?

 that since that time the Scottish Highland Regiments fought to win India for the British Crown; they later fought to hold it during the Indian Mutinies; they fought in the Crimea, in Afghanistan, in the Sudan, and in the World Wars, winning Battle Honors everywhere for their courage?

 that the Seaforth Highlanders Regiment was raised in 1881 by the last Earl of Seaforth, who had been stricken completely deaf and almost dumb at the age of twelve by an attack of Scarlet Fever? He once carried out a full General Inspection, by his own command, of the Ross-shire Militia, which was also under his command.

 that during the Indian Mutiny in 1857, a piper of the 78th Seaforth Regiment, who observed a mounted native, brandishing a sword, about to ride him down, aimed the great bass drone of his bagpipe at his would-be attacker, who, undoubtedly believing it to be a lethal fire-arm, wheeled his horse and fled?
 

 that the first and most famous of the Scottish-British Regiments, The Royal Highland, nick-named "Am Freiceadan Dubh" or "The Black Watch," was raised in 1739 especially for the purpose of "watching" the Scottish Highlands? For the past 25 years the Highlanders had been seething with resentment over the placing of the "wee German Lairdie" (small or petty German noble), George I of Hanover, on the throne rather than their own legal Heir, James Stewart (VIII). The 1715 Rising had been suppressed, and the "Black Watch" was to prevent another. The Regiment chose for its official tartan the now-widely-known and popular dark green and dark blue sett, which blended into the foliage of mountain and glen, appearing almost black. "Black" was also an uncomplimentary Scottish epithet aimed by the Highlanders at fellow-Scots who had "joined up" to spy out spreading seditious activities.

 that the famous Black Watch Regiment refused to accept Battle Honors from King George III for their participation in the American War of Independence "because Battle Honors should not be granted for a war with our kith and kin"?

 that when the troopship "Birkenhead" foundered off Cape Town during the 8th Kaffir War in Africa in 1852, 438 officers and men of the 73rd Black Watch, the 74th Highland Light Infantry, and the 91st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders went down with the ship while standing at attention on the deck, without one man breaking ranks? Having previously assisted the women and children passengers into the over-loaded lifeboats, they were informed by their officers that any attempts to save their own lives would result in the capsizing of the boats. Their loyalty to their commanding officers has been lauded for over one hundred years as the most outstanding example of discipline and courage in military history!