Friday August 26 Pipes and drums stir memories   He's 85 and it's his fourth Edinburgh Military Tattoo, but Bob Semple still feels the emotion swelling as he marches to the sound of the massed pipes and drums.

Semple, a World War II veteran from Essendon in Melbourne, is back at Edinburgh Castle to perform once more with Australia's Rats of Tobruk Memorial Pipes and Drums.

The Melbourne band, whose 30 members don kilts and other traditional Scottish military dress for their appearances, first played at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 1988.

"They hold a lot of mysteries, these walls," said Semple, speaking below the imposing walls of Edinburgh Castle, where the tattoo is held each August.

"It's great to be performing in front of 9,000 people."

But for Semple, who was involved in the 1941 siege of Tobruk in north Africa as well as fighting in New Guinea and Borneo, performing in the tattoo has a deeper meaning.

It always made him think of his fallen comrades, he said.

"The normal routine of the marching doesn't bother me at all.

"(But) I can assure you that I do get quite moved really...more particularly in the finale.

"Because it represents the going down of the sun and the lights going out, the lone piper..."

The veteran said it was nice to see today's youth taking an interest in the Edinburgh event.

"A lot of young people are backpacking around to places like Gallipoli and this is somewhere they also come."

Semple first joined a pipe band when he was 14. By the time he was 19, World War II had broken out and he was deployed first to the Middle East, then in the Pacific.

The Rats of Tobruk band drum major, Kathleen Matthies, said it was an honour to perform alongside Semple.

"It's such a special band because there's people like Bob," the 44-year-old said.

"It's a good vibe."

For her, the Edinburgh performances are a family affair.

Her 23-year-old son is in the British army and has recently returned from Iraq. He is performing in this year's tattoo, before going back to Iraq later this year.

Matthies' 20-year-old daughter is also in the Melbourne band, formed as a living memorial to those Australians who defended the garrison at Tobruk in north Africa from German attack in 1941.

Matthies was born in Scotland, so performing in Edinburgh is special.

"When you march along that drawbridge and you look down, there's 9,000 eyes staring at you," Matthies said.

"This band also gave me the opportunity to come back to the country where I was born."

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo began in 1950 with just eight bands.

More than 30 countries have been represented in the annual event, including Australia, which each year is watched by millions of TV viewers.

Earlier this year, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo performed in Sydney.