Added on Friday 23 Nov 2012

A ?forgotten? hero of the Burmese campaigns of the Second World War is to be remembered by a landmark bagpipe tune created and named in his honour.

Lieutenant John Young, aged 24, died fighting Japanese forces during the battle of Imphal in 1943, sacrificing his life so that his comrades in the Assam Regiment could retire to fight on from a better position.

Two years ago the suicidal bravery of the young Argyll and Sutherland Highlander was finally recognised publicly with an inscribed plaque outside his former home at 7 Jedburgh Gardens in the West End.

Although relatively few people will see the memorial, set on the pavement in the quiet North Kelvinside side street, it has sparked new determination to remember Young properly.

His name ? and the story behind it - will now be broadcast in every country where Scottish pipe bands are heard, thanks to a special competition run by the National College of Piping.

The contest offered no prizes but drew entries from many countries, giving the expert judging panel the difficult task of choosing a special tune that would forever be associated with the fallen hero.

The reward would simply be gaining the honour of writing a tune inspired by John Young.

And last week the winner, composer Peter MacInnes, heard his creation played for the first time by a lone piper from the Argylls ? in a poignant ceremony outside the soldier?s former Jedburgh Gardens home.

At the crucial battle of Imphal, Young had been ordered to hold an ultimately hopeless position with his company of Indian soldiers ?to the last man?, to allow British forces to consolidate a strong defensive line.

He and his men battled for three days to keep the Japanese onslaught at bay, amid some of the most desperate hand to hand fighting of the war.

With no prospect of relief, and with casualties mounting, the young officer realised the position was untenable, because his battered company would certainly be over-run and wiped out in the next mass attack.

Rather than see his remaining men face certain death he ordered them to fall back to fight on from a more secure position, staying behind to become literally ?the last man? himself.

The British line held and ? thanks to the desperate tenacity of Young, and men like him - the Japanese offensive ultimately collapsed, and their army in Burma was routed and destroyed by the forces of the brilliant General Slim.

Now the tune that will immortalise John Young?s heroic stand will inevitably find its way into the repertoire of every military pipe band in the country, besides many other band associations the world over who will become aware of the true significance of the unique musical tribute.

It will forever tell how a lad from a genteel West End tenement laid down his life for his comrades ? and fought on alone till the end.