Thank you.
It is an honor to be here and celebrate St. Andrew’s Day with the society named after the patron saint of Scotland. ..and the oldest Scottish Society in the world. When you think about it, this society was founded nearly 50 years before the American Revolution (1729) and what you have done …and continue to do…for local charities and for our community and The Citadel is truly outstanding.
We have a lot of celebrating to do tonight to commemorate 278 years. This is a fun evening….good company, plenty of good food and great spirits. So raise your glasses please…..To tradition, longevity, and Charleston hospitality…
(raise your glass for a toast.)
Citadel pipers
I’d like to congratulate Cadet Matthew Geddes. For the second year in a row, Matt is the recipient of the St. Andrew’s Society scholarship. You’ll be hearing him play later tonight. He’s a senior criminal justice major from Surfside Beach.
I’d also like to thank The Citadel Pipe Band for its participation in tonight’s festivities. I can’t say enough about them. Did you know that The Citadel has the largest all-student pipe band in the nation? Our director, Jim Dillahey, takes cadets who come here with no piping experience whatsoever and within two or three months, has them marching and playing in the band. I don’t know anything about playing pipes but that is a remarkable feat.
Many of you may know that Jim, a 2001 Citadel graduate, is also director of the Charleston Police Pipe Band. He is right at home here tonight because he has a close connection with Scotland…goes there every summer for a two-week pipe competition …and has won major awards both in Scotland and here in the United States.
The pipe band is one of the crown jewels of The Citadel and everyone who comes to a Citadel parade marvels at this group of musicians.
So let’s hear it for Jim Dillahey and that pipe band!!! (pause for applause.)
My time in Scotland
In addition to The Citadel Pipe Band and our scholarship recipient, there are personal reasons that I feel a connection with what is going on here tonight.
Donna and I lived in Scotland for a while when I was stationed at Lossiemouth as an American exchange officer flying the Jaguar for the Royal Air Force.
That was a great assignment and we loved Scotland.
(Room here for an anecdote about the funniest, most unusual, most interesting thing that happened to you while in Scotland…..)
Now that we’re back in Charleston, we both feel that we’re finally back home. Donna, as many of you know, is a native Charlestonian and I met her while I was attending The Citadel 30-some years ago.
We’re like a lot of people who recognize that Charleston is a great place. Folks that come here never want to leave. Charleston is a mecca not only for tourists but for people looking for a lifestyle with the culture, history, opportunities and recreation that only a city like Charleston can offer.
Why is Charleston special?
I started thinking about some of the qualities that make Charleston special and that led me to consider how much the St. Andrew’s Society and The Citadel reflect the special qualities of Charleston…and how many characteristics we share.
How are we alike?
We both put great value on tradition.
The celebration here tonight with all its pageantry speaks to how much you value your traditions that have come from a 278-year life, your mission of helping the poor, and your Scottish heritage.
At The Citadel, tradition is almost a subtitle of our identity. Just ask our alumni any time we try to change anything.
- During our weekly dress parades, we perform the same type of rituals that go back to Alexander the Great when he reviewed his troops.
- We have definite traditions about teaching leadership through a chain of command where cadets first learn how to follow and then gain more and more leadership responsibility as they move through the Corps.
- We have our strong military traditions that are prized even by those cadets who do not elect to go into military service.
- We have The Citadel ring, our bulldog mascots, our special Thanksgiving dinner, the Candlelight Christmas service which will take place this weekend, Corps Day, Recognition Day and a host of other activities that have been shared with generations of alumni and are part of The Citadel experience.
- Tradition is so important at The Citadel that cadets are quick to name an activity a tradition…. If you’ve done it twice, then it’s a tradition.
We share one special tradition -- both The Citadel and the St. Andrew’s Society have our own tartans.
The Citadel tartan worn by our pipers is much younger than yours. The original tartan our pipers wore was the Royal Stuart tartan, chosen when the pipe band was established in 1955. A new Citadel tartan was designed and worn for the first time during the 1981 inauguration of General Alex Grimsley, our beloved president emeritus.
We both have a long and colorful history.
The St. Andrew’s Society was established by Scottish settlers to help the poor, the widows and orphans in pre-revolutionary Charleston. Your former members include a Revolutionary War general (William Moultrie) and a signer of the U.S. Constitution (Charles Cotesworth Pinckney).
The Citadel was established by the S.C. General Assembly in December, 1842 in order to provide cadets an education while manning the arsenal on Marion Square which was known as The Citadel. Since the first cadets reported in March of 1843 and accepted responsibility for The Citadel from the Washington Light Infantry, our cadets and graduates have served in every war that America has fought.
The Citadel and the St. Andrew’s Society have both been the subject of movies.
Let me read the entry that appears in Wikipedia about the St. Andrew’s Society:
The St. Andrew Society of Charleston, South Carolina is located in Charleston, South Carolina and was founded by gentlemen Scottish immigrants to the American South in 1729. It is a charitable organization that gives assistance to orphans, widows, and others in the Charleston area. Its members are mostly of Scottish heritage and are upper class philanthropists. It was featured in the controversial comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
I was going to say a bit about Borat tonight but since I assume that most of you have seen the movie, I will only suggest that if Hugh Wilson, Billy Silcox and Sims McDowell and their wives should have Borat back to Charleston, you should treat him to a Lowcountry Boil…but leave out the shrimp, the sausage, the corn and the seasoning. Just keep the boiling water.
The Citadel has had it’s own moments in the spotlight, of course. We were the subject of the movie The Lords of Discipline, as well as the book. We were the setting for an episode of Colombo in the 1970s. And more recently… four years ago The Citadel was a stop on MTV’s Road Rules college tour.
Both the St. Andrew’s Society and The Citadel appear in write-ups of tourist attractions. You are mentioned for your history as being the oldest Scottish Society in the world. The Citadel is also recognized for its history and for offering the “best free show in Charleston” during the school year – our Friday afternoon military dress parades.
Finally, The St. Andrew’s Society and The Citadel are both rooted in missions to address the needs of the community and serve a cause greater than themselves.
For 278 years, the St. Andrew’s Society has looked after the needs of the community, providing support to charities, providing scholarships for Citadel cadets and working toward a better Charleston.
For nearly 165 years, The Citadel has served our city and our nation, providing leaders and citizen soldiers to protect and defend what we believe in.
I am proud of the rich traditions and common ties that The Citadel shares with the St. Andrew’s Society. I thank you for the many opportunities that you have offered our cadets and I hope that your next 278 years will be as meaningful as the past ones have been.
Thank you and God Bless.
