THE RED HACKLE

 The late Ernie Anderson sang this song in my parents house in Manse Crescent on Hogmanay over 50 years ago and I'm grateful to his widow Ruby for providing the words.

Now listen and I'll tell you a story

Of a boy who was taken from home

Just to fight for his King and his country

And also his loved ones at home.

So they put him in a Highland Division

And sent him to a far off foreign land

Where the flies buzz around in their thousands

And there's nothing to see there but sand.

Now the battle it started one morning

'Neath a wide open Libyan sun

It was there that a poor Scottish laddie

Was shot by an old Eytie gun.

So they dug his grave deep in the desert

And they buried him deep in the sand

On his head was that famous Balmoral

And the Red Hackle clasped in his hand.

When his Mother heard the news on the wireless

How she cried and she cried and she cried

But she smiled when she heard these words spoken

Your son like a hero has died.

So this is the end of my story

The moral I'm now going to tell

He had fought he had died for Christ's glory

He was one of the Ladies from Hell.