Changing of the Guard

A retired British colonel is spending New Year's Eve with his inquisitive adolescent granddaughter, Sybil. He tells her of another New Year's Eve, a bittersweet one, when he attended his retirement dinner and received the special gift from his regiment, the Seaforth Highlanders. He also tells her of a story concerning the Seaforth Highlander's involvement in the Battle of Spion Kop during the Boer War. Despite the story not matching exactly what it states in Sybil's history books, she is nonetheless inspired to carry out the family tradition of a military life when she grows up.