Bill Millin was born on July 14, 1922, in Regina, Saskatchewan, to a father of Scottish descent. The family returned to Glasgow when William was three. His father became a police officer. William grew up and attended school in the Shettleston neighborhood. He joined the Territorial Army at Fort William and played bagpipes in the band of the Highland Light Infantry and the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders before volunteering as a commando.
Bill met Lord Lovat (Simon Fraser) during combat training at Achnacarry in the Scottish Highlands. Lovat was born on July 9, 1911, the son of the 14th Lord Lovat. Lovat became head of the Inverness Highland aristocracy and joined the 1st Special Services Brigade when World War II broke out. Lovat asked Millin to be his personal piper to keep the men’s morale as high as possible during battle. The British government had banned bagpipes in wartime, but Lovat had a different opinion: “Ah, but that’s an English War Office. That ban doesn’t apply to us Scots”.
Lovat and his men landed on Sword Beach on June 6, 1944, D-Day . Lovat led the way, followed by his men. During disembarkation, the man directly behind Lovat was shot in the head, and Millin soon saw many casualties floating in the sea around him. Millin was the only one dressed in a kilt, the same kind his father had worn in Flanders during the First World War. Lovat ordered Millin to play “Highland Laddie” (“Give me Highland Laddie, man!”), and so Lovat and his men arrived on the beach. Upon arrival, Millin paced back and forth as if he were on Brighton beach, playing “The Road to the Isles” despite the bullets whizzing around him. Many were motivated by Millin, while others thought he was crazy and should take cover (“Get down, you mad bugger!”).
After landing and moving on from the beach, the next objective was to relieve John Howard’s men, who had spectacularly captured the Pegasus Bridge at Bénouville. Upon arrival at the Caen Canal, Lovat’s group was shot at by a sniper. Everyone took cover flat on the ground except Millin, who knelt down and continued playing. Lovat killed the sniper with a single shot and asked Millin to play “Bluebonnets over the border”. According to Lovat, the men at the bridge could then hear their approach.
John Howard had now held out for 12 hours defending the bridge against several counterattacks and desperately needed reinforcements, especially ammunition. Suddenly, the men at the bridge heard the sound of bagpipes and couldn’t believe their ears, and later their eyes. Lovat’s commandos arrived at the bridge, with Millin at the head. For a brief moment, the fighting subsided; even the Germans were astonished by the sight of the piper. It didn’t last long, and eventually, the bagpipes were damaged, and Millin was unable to continue playing. Lovat apologized to Howard for being “a few minutes” (an hour and a half) late, and they distributed food, tea, and whiskey while waiting for the infantry with the Churchill and Sherman tanks that were also on their way from the beach.
The next objective was the city of Caen.
After the war, Millin spoke with Germans stationed near the beach who had witnessed everything. The Germans declared him insane and had deliberately not shot him, but Millin said, “If I’m crazy, I can tell you that Lovat was even crazier“.
Lord Lovat and Bill Millin remained close friends after the war. Lovat died in 1995, and naturally, Bill played at his funeral. Bill died in 2010, aged 88.
Source: Historiek.net