Bill Millin
Bill Millin, commonly known as Piper Bill, was personal piper to Lord Lovat, commander of 1 Special Service Brigade at D-Day.
Millin is most famous for being one of the few [citation needed] pipers to play during a World War II battle. Pipers had traditionally led Scottish troops into battle[1] however the death toll among pipers in World War I was so high that the practice was banned by the British high command. Lord Lovat, however, ignored these orders and Millin, aged 21, played "Hielan' Laddie" and "The Road to the Isles" as his comrades fell around him on Sword Beach[2]. As German soldiers later attested, they did not target Millin because they believed him to be mad.[3][4]
This action was portrayed in the 1962 film The Longest Day. It is a common misconception that Millin played himself; the actor was in fact Pipe Major Leslie de Laspee, the official piper to the Queen Mother in 1961. In an interview during the making of the film, Lord Lovat claimed that this was because "my old piper works in a bar in Glasgow now, I believe, and is too fat to play the part."[5][6]
References
- ^ Scotland.com - History of Scotland
- ^ BBC News - Scotland's veterans remember D-Day
- ^ Buckingham Covers - About our signer
- ^ BBC News - Scotland's role in D-Day landings
- ^ "Piper Bill Millin". The Pegasus Archive. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
- ^ "D-Day Piper - Bill Millin". The Miniatures Page. 2006-08-03. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External links
- Bill Millin talks about the landing on Sword Beach: [1]
  | This biographical article related to the British Army is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  | This Scottish biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |