Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

The Scots bagpiper who played as his mates came ashore on Sword Beach on D-Day.

And another account of him playing as his crew attacks Pegasus Bridge.

Lord Lovat’s bagpiper, Bill Millin.

Marching along playing bagpipes in the middle of a battlefield.  I can believe the Germans thought he was insane.

Joe Doakes

His name was Bill Millin. He was actually from Regina, Saskatchewan – but his family moved to Scotland when he was 3.  He became a bagpiper in the 51st “Highland” Division, and then became a Commando in Lord Lovat’s brigade.

Millin, more recently.

And so 70 years ago this morning, Millin went into action armed only with bagpipes and the traditional, ceremonial Sgian-Dubh knife stock in his right sock.

As to insanity?  The Scots have long known that the sound of a bagpipe stokes the savage beast.

Millin died in 2010.  His pipes are at the “Pegasus Bridge” museum, in Normandy.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Friday, June 6th, 2014 at 8:16 am and is filed under History And Its Making. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.