CCF Historical Notes
The Cadet Corps at Glasgow Academy paraded for the first time in January 1902, affiliated to the First Volunteer Battalion, Highland Light Infantry.
Within a few months a pipe band had also been formed. Both were incorporated in the Combined Cadet Force formed in 1948.
An Air Training Corps was established in the school in 1941 and was reborn in 1949 as the RAF section of the Combined Cadet Force. The RN section followed in 1951.
During the First World War 1375 former Academy boys served, of whom 327 died. Of the thirteen men from Glasgow who were awarded the Victoria Cross, two had been pupils at the Academy and were killed during the actions for which they were decorated : Lieutenant Donald Mackintosh, Seaforth Highlanders, and Lieutenant-Colonel William Herbert Anderson, Highland Light Infantry.
During the Second World War 1646 former pupils served, of whom 168 died. The first two decorations of the war were gazetted on 10 October 1939: one of the two recipients was a former Academy boy, Flying Officer Andrew McPherson, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross but killed in May the following year.
Glasgow Academy is a War Memorial school and the CCF has an important part to play in keeping alive the memory of the sacrifice made in two World Wars by former pupils.