Panel stitched by:
Margaret Burgess
Olive McCrone
Anne Ratigan
Caroline Scott
Nicki Slater
Alison Wood
Stitched in:
Edinburgh, Winchburgh
On 6 June 1944, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted landed on the beaches of Normandy to begin the reconquest of Nazi Europe. More than 73,000 American soldiers, 61,715 British and 21,400 Canadians either splashed ashore under heavy fire or were parachuted in the night before. Known as Operation Overlord, the landings saw some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War. Scotland had not only been involved in the preparations and training for the landings, many Scottish soldiers attempted to fight their way up the beaches. Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, commanded 1 Special Service Brigade and he instructed his personal piper, Bill Millin, to play as the troops landed. Under heavy German fire, he played ‘The Road to the Isles’ and ‘Hielan’ Laddie’. The piper was the only soldier in the Normandy Landings to wear a kilt – a Cameron tartan worn by his father in the trenches in the First World War. Apart from his sgian-dubh sheathed in his socks, Millan carried no weapons. Later, he talked to captured German snipers who said that they did not shoot at him because they thought he was crazy. Lovat’s brigade advanced to Pegasus Bridge, bravely defended by the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, with Millin leading and playing the pipes. Twelve men wearing berets were shot through the head and commandos then raced across the bridge with helmets on. In 2009, Piper Millin was decorated by the French government, receiving the Croix d’Honneur for gallantry.
Panel stitched by:
Margaret Burgess
Olive McCrone
Anne Ratigan
Caroline Scott
Nicki Slater
Alison Wood
Stitched in:
Edinburgh, Winchburgh