RIP Bill Millin, D-Day bagpiper

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Just picked this up. I never met him, but our own Nigel Watson knew him personally. Some of you might remember him portrayed in the movie The Longest Day.

RIP, Mr. Millin. You shall be remembered.

August 19, 2010
D-Day bagpiper dies at 88

By QMI Agency

The Scottish bagpiper who played as soldiers swarmed the beaches on D-Day has died of a stroke. He was 88.

Bill Millin, 22 when the allies landed at Normandy in France on June 6, 1944, was ordered to keep playing in order to boost the morale of his fellow troops, even as they were being mowed down all around him. Millin's commanding officer defied an order when he instructed Millin to perform.

"Lord Lovat [Millin's commanding officer] said this was going to be the greatest invasion in the history of warfare and he wanted the bagpipes leading it. He said I was to play and he would worry about the consequences later," Millin told the Daily Mail newspaper before he died.

The French government, which has previously awarded him the Croix d'Honneur, unveiled a statue in his honour in June.

Millin's funeral will be a private affair.

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally Posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball

Just picked this up. I never met him, but our own Nigel Watson knew him personally. Some of you might remember him portrayed in the movie The Longest Day.

RIP, Mr. Millin. You shall be remembered.

How ironic (or appropriate?) that he died on the anniversary of the "raid" on Dieppe!