PTC Veterans Center Liaison Doug Davis celebrates Veterans Day

Besides its long-standing association with the clans and districts of Scotland, tartans have been associated with the military, namely the Scottish regiments of the British Army and other Commonwealth Nations such as Canada, Australia and South Africa. The United States military also has such associations, albeit a much younger one. During the American Civil War, the 79th New York Regiment based their uniforms on the 79th Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, including the adoption of the Cameron of Erracht tartan. While historians debate the use of kilts or tartan trews by the New Yorkers, the popular image of "kilted Yankees" has been documented in Civil War folklore.

During and after the Second World War, American military personnel began to form pipe bands after witnessing the pipes and drums of British and Commonwealth forces in that conflict. A U.S. Marine Pipe Band was formed in Londonderry, Northern Ireland during the war, but ironically, band members did not wear traditional Highland attire. Since the Second World War, a number of U.S. military branches and individual units, such as the famed 7th U.S. Cavalry (Custer’s command), the U.S. Marines, the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis) and the U.S. Coast Guard have organized pipe bands and have "adopted" tartans.

Today, military tartans are often worn at social and formal functions by serving and retired military servicemen and women. In the image below, four examples of tartans adopted and worn by branches of the U.S. military are featured. These U.S. military tartans are often made into kilts, ties, scarves and more.


Doug Davis, PTC's Veterans Center Liaison, is a Vietnam War Veteran and served in the Marine Corps from 1964 to ’68. Today, Nov. 10, is the birthday of the Marine Corps, and Davis, in the photo below, proudly wears his kilt in honor of both Veterans Day and the 235th birthday of the Marine Corps -- organized and formed in 1775.