Mel
08-20-2010, 07:01 PM
Second world war bagpipe-player Bill Millin, whose music boosted morale during the D-Day Normandy landings, has died.
The Scot played his comrades ashore at Sword Beach amid heavy gunfire, armed with nothing but the traditional dirk dagger he kept in his stocking.
The much feted veteran, whose actions were immortalised in the film The Longest Day, lived in a nursing home in Dawlish, Devon, before he died in Torbay hospital aged 88.
He was serving with 1st Commando Brigade when he landed at the beach in Normandy on 6 June 1944.
At the request of his commanding officer, Lord Lovat, he played on despite the great danger surrounding him.
Ken Sturdy, chairman of the Torbay and South Devon branch of the Normandy Veterans Association, paid tribute to the piper.
"He was what we would nowadays call a celebrity," he said. "But he wouldn't like that as he was very modest.
"He used to joke that when the enemy heard him coming they panicked at the sound of the pipes. He was friendly and warm and had a quiet sense of humour."
Sturdy, a 90-year-old veteran who served with the Royal Navy, described hearing Millin's bagpipes when he landed on the beach that day.
"Among all the noise and bedlam going on I could hear bagpipes. I thought I had imagined them and it wasn't until later that I realised I really had heard them.
"Bill marched boldly with his pipes in a situation that was quite unbelievable. It was in the heat of battle, there was a lot of gunfire and he was unarmed except for his pipes and his dirk.
"It was certainly heroic. People were dying around him and he was in the most alarming situation so he must have been a very cool young fellow."
Millin returned to Normandy a number of times to commemorate the historic events of 1944.
His family is understood to be planning a private funeral for him, with a remembrance service to be held at a later date.
The Scot played his comrades ashore at Sword Beach amid heavy gunfire, armed with nothing but the traditional dirk dagger he kept in his stocking.
The much feted veteran, whose actions were immortalised in the film The Longest Day, lived in a nursing home in Dawlish, Devon, before he died in Torbay hospital aged 88.
He was serving with 1st Commando Brigade when he landed at the beach in Normandy on 6 June 1944.
At the request of his commanding officer, Lord Lovat, he played on despite the great danger surrounding him.
Ken Sturdy, chairman of the Torbay and South Devon branch of the Normandy Veterans Association, paid tribute to the piper.
"He was what we would nowadays call a celebrity," he said. "But he wouldn't like that as he was very modest.
"He used to joke that when the enemy heard him coming they panicked at the sound of the pipes. He was friendly and warm and had a quiet sense of humour."
Sturdy, a 90-year-old veteran who served with the Royal Navy, described hearing Millin's bagpipes when he landed on the beach that day.
"Among all the noise and bedlam going on I could hear bagpipes. I thought I had imagined them and it wasn't until later that I realised I really had heard them.
"Bill marched boldly with his pipes in a situation that was quite unbelievable. It was in the heat of battle, there was a lot of gunfire and he was unarmed except for his pipes and his dirk.
"It was certainly heroic. People were dying around him and he was in the most alarming situation so he must have been a very cool young fellow."
Millin returned to Normandy a number of times to commemorate the historic events of 1944.
His family is understood to be planning a private funeral for him, with a remembrance service to be held at a later date.