‘My way of giving back’: Southern California bagpipers stir 9/11 reflection

Alhambra Police Sgt. Brian Chung was just a child when the planes flew into the towers on Sept. 11, 2001 — too young at the time to fully grasp the scope of the attack.

But come Monday, the piercing sounds of his bagpipes will echo in his community, his stoic, mournful notes comforting many while setting a reflective tone at his city’s 9/11 memorial.

Chung is among bagpipers across the country who on Monday will perform at countless tributes to those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

It’s the wailing sound of Scotland’s great Highlander bagpipes that in the 22 years since 9/11 have made these ceremonies all the more poignant.

Listen close on Monday, and you might hear “Amazing Grace,” or maybe “God Bless America,” all from what sometimes is a solitary bagpiper, but sometimes with a band — bass drums on the low end, the piccolo pitched rat-a-tat of a snare drummer popping through the air on the high end.

Chung on Monday will dress in his police shirt on top and a kilt and a tartan on the bottom, not only representing Alhambra PD but also his family, who made their way from County Longford, Ireland to Scotland and to the United States.

“My mom (who is full Irish) wanted me to play the pipes when I was a child,” Chung said. “When I was eight years old, she showed me a National Geographic photo of a bagpiper and he had the formal dress, the head piece and I had never heard what) bagpipes sounded like, but I’m looking at this guy wearing all this crazy clothing and I was like ‘No mom … I want to play an electric bass guitar. Knowing what I know now, I wish I started at eight years old. My mom’s all about the Irish heritage.”

But as he prepared for his city’s tribute on Monday, Chung was mindful of the moment, and reverent. He’s performed at 9/11 memorials before in his city, but the meaning of the moment never gets old.

“This is my way of giving back, it’s sweet,” he said. “The grand Highlander has a haunting sound and helps with emotions people are already feeling and (gets) them to go deeper into those emotions. It triggers a response.”

Many of those who responded and died were with the New York fire and police departments, in what is known as the deadliest terrorist act in human history, killing nearly 3,000, including 340 firefighters and 72 law enforcement personnel.

Pipes and drums – long a tradition at fire and police funerals – have been a presence at 9/11 memorials ever since, culminating in a weekly piper tribute at the 9/11 Memorial in New York.

There’s a reverence for that tradition in the local pipe band community, who often point to the bagpipe’s roots from Scotland and Ireland, and even further back.

Nick Petoyan, the band manager of City of Angels Pipe Band and a San Fernando Valley native, said the tradition of pipes in fire and police departments in the U.S. dates back to the mid-1800s and into the early 1900s, as Scottish and Irish migrants settled in the United States.

It was then the Irish took on jobs in police and fire departments and became part of those communities.

Bagpipes would often be played at Celtic funerals and dances. Eventually, many pipe bands formed representing both police and fire. Bagpipers were often called on to perform at funerals commemorating their fallen comrades.

“The bagpipe was perfected by the Scots,” Petoyan said, noting that even further back bagpipes originated from the Middle East and during the Roman empire expanded to reached Scotland and Ireland.

“I love the instrument my grandfather played, and that keeps me close to him,” he said.

And so, such reverence will come out on Sept. 11, as bagpipers in Southern California create that droning bass note and the melody on top of that. Almost instantly, the combination beckons the listener.

Long Beach Pipe Band member Davey Armstrong, a marketing director at Indian Motorcycle of Orange County, will play a 1988 Great Highland Kintail bagpipe in Downey’s 9/11 memorial ceremony on Monday morning.

He’s ready.

“It’s an honor to be a part of today’s ceremony,” he said, noting his Scottish and Irish roots. “To me it’s so much fun to be able to play a memorial that’s really touching people.”

And with an instrument that touches people in a unique way, he said.

“Bagpipes are an emotional instrument,” he said. “I have played many, many memorials … and I can get emotional, too. A lot of instruments don’t get to do that.”