You have to see this! Pipe and drum bands from around the country and Canada play in funeral processions of fallen firefighters
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A TOUCHING TRIBUTE — Pipe and drum bands from across the country and Canada came together to honor the two Idaho battalion chiefs killed in a tragic ambush last month.
Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison, 52, and Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Frank Harwood, 42, were responding to a brush fire on Canfield Mountain when they were shot and killed by a gunman on June 29. Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Engineer David Tysdal, 47, was shot and injured in the shooting.
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Funerals for Morrison and Harwood were held last week. Over 150 bagpipe players and drummers — not only from the northwest, but also Dallas, Las Vegas, Virginia and Calgary — joined the Coeur d’Alene Firefighters Pipes and Drums to participate in the funeral processions.
Video shared on the International Association of Fire Fighters 7th District Vice President Ricky Walsh’s Facebook page shows the bands playing together.
“We honor our fallen,” the video reads.
The Coeur d’Alene Firefighters Pipes and Drums is a nonprofit founded by firefighters from Coeur d’Alene Firefighters Local 710, The Spokesman-Review explained. The band is composed of firefighters and members of the public, and plays for service members’ ceremonies such as weddings and funerals.
“These services are exactly why we formed,” Jessica Bryant, the pipe major of the Coeur d’Alene Firefighter Pipes and Drums told the Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press. “Though we hoped it would never be for anybody in our department.”
The news outlet explained that bagpipes have been played as a tribute to fallen firefighters and first responders since the 1800s, a tradition began by Scottish and Irish immigrants who often performed dangerous jobs.
“Honoring their brothers and sisters in this way continues to bring pipe and drum bands together in solidarity — no matter when or where,” the article reads.
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