THE “MAD,” BRAVE PIPER OF NORMANDY BEACH
A little music can be essential to survival.
HIGHLANDS HERO
Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Bill Millin learned to play bagpipes as a young man. During World War II, Millin served in Britain’s First Special Service Brigade and he was there with his unit on June 6, 1944—D-Day—as the Allies prepared to invade the beaches of Normandy and begin a major push to liberate Western Europe from Nazi control.
As Bill Millin and his brigade approached their landing, code named Sword Beach, near the French City of Caen, Millin’s commanding officer, Brigadier Simon Fraser, asked him if he would play his bagpipes to help raise morale. The playing of the pipes was an old Scottish and Irish battle tradition, and Fraser was a true Scotsman, the hereditary chief of the Clan Fraser. Private Millin had played the pipes as the soldier waited to board their landing craft, but he told Fraser that he would rather not play on the battlefield because it went against military code from World War I. It was forbidden to play in a war zone because it would do more harm than good—attracting enemy fire rather than raising morale. Fraser would hear none of it. He said, “Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.”
Millin wrote later that he felt seasick all night as they crossed the channel but as he waded into the cold water he was ready:
“My kilt to the surface and the shock of the freezing cold water knocked all feelings of sickness from me and I felt great. I was so relieved of getting off that boat after all night being violently sick. I struck up the Pipes and paddled through the surf playing “Hieland Laddie”, and Lord Lovat (Fraser’s Scottish title) turned round and looked at me and [gestured approvingly].
When I finished, Lovat asked for another tune. Well, when I looked round—the noise and people lying about shouting and the smoke, the crump of mortars, I said to myself, “Well, you must be joking surely.”
He said, “What was that?” and he said, “Would you mind giving us a tune?”
“Well, what tune would you like, Sir?”
“How about The Road to the Isles?”
“Now, would you want me to walk up and down, Sir?”
“Yes. That would be nice. Yes, walk up and down.”
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So, following the orders of his commanding officer, the 21-year-old walked up and down the battlefield playing “Hielan’ Laddie” and “The Road to the Isles” as German snipers shot around him. He saw many lying face down in the water going back and forwards with the surf, while others were able to move forward and dig in just off the beach. Although many of his fellow soldiers died that day, none of the German soldiers shot at Millins who was an easy target. When he spoke with Germans later, he found out that they didn’t shoot him because they thought he was crazy.
THE MAGIC FLUTE
Millin did not regard himself as heroic—he was just following orders. He felt bad walking among his wounded comrades, but many of his fellow soldiers appreciated his playing on the battlefield. One commando, Tom Duncan, said, “I shall never forget hearing the skirl of Bill Millin’s pipes. As well as the pride we felt, it reminded us of home, and why we were fighting there for our lives and those of our loved ones.” From Sword Beach, the Allies were able to move successfully inland. As they headed toward a bridge near the village of Ouistreham, Fraser again asked Millin to play the pipes. As he played along one stretch of road, German snipers began taking out his fellow soldiers again. He looked around to the many of his comrades lying face down on the road and Lovat (Fraser) was down on one knee. They spotted a sniper scrambling down from a tree and he headed off through a cornfield. As he ran, Lovat shot at him and he fell. After Lovat had killed him, he commanded Millin to again start piping. As they crossed the Pegasus Bridge near Ouistreham, Lovat asked Millin to play. Again Germans fired around him as he and his fellow soldiers crossed. While none shot at him, many of his comrades were felled by sniper fire. “It was the longest bridge I ever Piped across,” wrote Millin, “but I got safely over and shook hands with the two Airborne chaps in the slit trench.”
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Some gave the brave Canadian the nickname of the “mad piper,” although Millin had said that it wasn’t he who was mad—Lord Lovat was the one who was called “mad” by his troops. Millin was portrayed in the 1962 movie The Longest Day, starring John Wayne, Peter Lawford, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, and many others. Millin died on August 17, 2010. With the help of son John Millin and the Dawlish Royal British Legion, a bronze life-size statue of Piper Bill Millin was unveiled on June 8, 2013 at Colleville-Montgomery, near Sword Beach, in France.
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YOU CAN’T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN
During the War of 1812, Canadian Isaac Brock was shot and killed at the Battle of Queenston Heights on Oct. 13, 1812. For three days, his body lay in state at the Government House in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Then he and his aide-de-camp (field lieutenant), Lieutenant Colonel John Macdonnell, who was also killed in the skirmish, were laid to rest at nearby Fort George.
In 1814, the government of Upper Canada wanted to honor the heroes Brock and Macdonnell, so they voted to build a monument in Queenston where the brave warriors met their demise. Although the monument was not quite completed, Brock and Macdonnell were dug up and moved there, about 10 km away, on October 13, 1824.
Sixteen years later, the Irish Canadian Benjamin Lett led a movement to get revenge on the British and an explosion related to his rebellion damaged the monument. In 1842, Canadian officials decided a new monument must be erected. As building began in 1853, Brock and Macdonnell had to be moved to temporary graves. It can be hard to rest in peace when you’re moving around so much, but finally, on October 13, 1853, the pair of soldiers were placed in what we think is their final resting place.
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