Celtic Music Radio is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I in song.

Presenter Gordon Hotchkiss has started a six-part series of inserts on songs about the War in his weekly “Hotchkiss Hotchpotch” programme on Celtic Music Radio 95 FM at 7.00pm Wednesdays with a repeat the following day, Thursdays at 12noon. 

This week, Wednesday 27 August, Gordon will be featuring the role Scotland played in the Great War.

The Great War was one of the most awesome, bitter and ultimately destructive conflicts in Scottish history. It virtually wiped out a generation of young men from all over the country.

In many battles throughout the war Scots soldiers went over the top to the skirl of the bagpipes.

The pipers were virtually unarmed and of the 2,500 who served throughout the war almost a half were killed or wounded.

Only two Pipers received VC’s out of the 638 VC’s awarded to British and Commonwealth troops during the war.

A total of 147,609 Scots lost their lives in the four-year-long conflict between 1914 and 1918.

Themortality rate in the war for Scottish troops was over twice that of the rest of the British Army – a horrendous 26.4% compared to 11.8%.

In fact, Scotland suffered the third highest percentage casualty rate of all the counties who fought in the war, only Turkey and Serbia had higher percentage casualty rates.

These statistics fail to grasp the impact the war had on Scotland but it is shown in different aspects in a legacy of both Traditional and Contemporary songs, music and poetry which will be featured in the programme.

Next week, the fifth programme of the series on Wednesday 3 September examines major battles and opposition to the war including revolution in Russia.

The final programme of the series is on Wednesday 10 September.  This edition will be concentrating on some of the songs sung by the troops and the end of the war.

Join Gordon Hotchkiss across Glasgow on 95 FM on Wednesday evenings at 7.00pm repeated Thursdays 12 noon and Catch Up anytime.