The legacy of the Mad Piper who played bagpipes on D-Day beaches
Amid the roar of gunfire and the shouts and screams of soldiers as they ran up the beaches of Normandy, there was another sound: the keening cry of bagpipes.
The noise of war was everywhere. Explosions rent the air at every moment, the rattle of machine guns firing down at Allied troops rang out along 50 miles of coastline.
Bill Millin was just 21 years old when he stepped off his landing craft on D-Day, wearing his father’s First World War kilt and armed only with a ceremonial dagger.
Bill Millin plays his bagpipes at Edinburgh Castle in 2001. Pic: PA
In the hell of war, the trill of his bagpipes raised morale and was an echo of home for his comrades on that fateful day.
By some miracle – and perhaps the fact that German snipers would later say they avoided shooting him because they thought he had gone mad – Bill survived D-Day and his story became legend.
“The life I live is because of my grandfather’s generation,” his grandson Jacob Millin says.
Jacob Millin and his son
He plays bagpipes too, like his father and his grandfather before him.
“It makes you feel connected, like I’m doing something to keep the story going, keeping it alive,” he adds.
“It’s down to my generation and future generations to not let it fade.”
It may be a common sight in Scotland, where his grandfather hails from, but bagpipes are a bit more exotic in Norfolk, where Jacob lives with his family.
“Whenever you play, people do wander over because you don’t hear it very often. It’s quite an individual instrument and they’re so loud you can hear them from miles away.”
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It was against the rules to play the bagpipes on D-Day. Military bosses were worried about the level of casualties at the landings.
In 1944, Bill was the personal piper to the eccentric Lord Lovat, the commander of the newly formed 1st Special Service Brigade which landed at Sword beach on 6 June 1944. It was Lovat who asked him to play the pipes on the beach.
When Bill reminded him of the rules, the peer replied: “Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.”
And so The Road To The Isles, a tune about the hills of Skye, rang out in France.
Piper Bill Millin at his home in Dawlish, Devon, with bagpipes (NOT the pipes he blew on the beach) in 2004. Pic: PA
Bill returned to Normandy for key commemorations and in 1994 was reunited with Josette Gouellain in the town of Ranville.
Fifty years earlier, Josette, then a little girl, had asked him to play her a tune and he obliged with The Nut Brown Maiden in reference to the colour of her hair and eyes.
In 1995, he played the lament at Lord Lovat’s funeral. Bill died in 2010.
In Jacob’s work as a teacher, he gets to pass on the stories of D-Day to his students so that a new generation can engage with what happened, even as the event passes out of living memory.
“For them, looking at old people, they might be a bit slower or not as quick, but actually some of the people they walk past in the streets were actual veterans who have seen active service or were involved in codebreaking,” he says.
“I can’t imagine when I was 21 being on the beach with people shooting and seeing my friends die in front of me.”
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This generation, he says, often don’t know what to do when they’re in their 20s.
“Being deployed on D-Day and having to carry that with you for the rest of your life, I think that’s a really important message of not giving up, being humble about things and doing what needs to be done.”
Jacob, who regularly tours playing his bagpipes at memorial events, says his young son has also taken up the bagpipes.
The legacy of the Mad Piper lives on.
The UK has seen its warmest start to May on record as temperatures soared to over 29C in the spring sunshine.
The Met Office said 29.3C (84.7F) had been recorded at Kew Gardens in southwest London, passing the previous 1 May record of 27.4C (81.3F) set in Lossiemouth in 1990.
Thursday was also the warmest day of the year so far, beating the previous high of 26.7C (80F) reached in Wisley, Surrey, on Wednesday.
Follow latest updates: May record broken
The seafront in Southend-on-Sea. Pic: PA
But the heat is not expected to last for the bank holiday weekend, with cooler weather starting to drift in from the north on Friday.
Temperatures are expected to ease by Friday and Saturday, meaning cooler conditions of 14C to 18C across the UK.
Stephen Dixon, a Met Office spokesman, said: “Temperatures tomorrow will be slightly reduced from what we’ve seen today, possibly 26 or 27 degrees in the far southeast of England through the day tomorrow.”
What has led to the hot spell?
Forecasters said the hot spell has been due to the jet stream remaining stuck north of the country, allowing high pressure to settle.
Last month was also the sunniest April in the UK since records began in 1910, with 47% more sunshine hours than the long-term meteorological average, and the third warmest April on record, according to provisional Met Office figures.
Rainfall was well below average for most of the UK last month, with just 56% of expected totals recorded.
And Tyne and Wear had its second driest April on record, with only 7% of its usual rainfall.
Boy’s body recovered from lake
Meanwhile, the recovery of a 16-year-old boy’s body from a lake in Nottingham prompted emergency services to warn about swimming in lakes and rivers.
Chief Inspector David Mather, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to highlight this case as a reminder of the devastating consequences of entering open water – regardless of whether people do so deliberately or inadvertently.”
A lifeguard at London Fields Lido in east London. Pic: Reuters
The London Fire Brigade said its crews responded to 565 water-related incidents last year and have already attended around 160 in the first quarter of this year, with incidents ranging from rescuing people to animals stranded on lakes and ponds.
‘Water temperatures can be dangerously cold’
Assistant commissioner for prevention and protection Craig Carter said. “Even when the sun is shining, water temperatures can be dangerously cold. Cold water shock can affect anyone, no matter how fit or experienced they are. It can lead to water inhalation, and, in the worst cases, drowning.”
People enjoy their ice creams during in St James’s Park, London. Pic: PA
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) offered similar warnings, advising those planning to swim at a lifeguarded beach to swim between the red and yellow flags.
Fire services warned that the warm weather means there is a “heightened” risk of grass and wildfires which can spread more easily during the dry spell, as firefighters have been battling what they described as a large wildfire in the Peak District.
The RAC also cautioned drivers on the roads, with spokesman Rod Dennis saying breakdowns are expected to “soar”, while the NHS reported searches for hay fever advice had doubled from Monday to Wednesday.
Police have revealed details around the dismissal of the co-instructor in a fatal paddleboarding trip.
Nerys Lloyd was jailed last month for the gross negligence manslaughter of Paul O’Dwyer, 42, Andrea Powell, 41, Morgan Rogers, 24, and Nicola Wheatley, 40.
The 39-year-old had also pleaded guilty to one offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
The four were part of a stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) tour of the River Cleddau in Pembrokeshire.
They got into difficulty after their paddleboards passed over a weir in the town of Haverfordwest during “extremely hazardous conditions” in October 2021.
Lloyd was the owner and sole director of Salty Dog Co Ltd, the firm which had organised the tour.
(L-R) Nicola Wheatley, Andrea Powell, Paul O’Dwyer and Morgan Rogers. Pics: Family handouts (via South Wales Police)
The defendant, who worked as a firearms officer for South Wales Police, was separately accused of breaching the standards of professional behaviour.
The misconduct hearing took place on 14 January 2022, but the publication of the outcome was postponed.
Now that criminal proceedings have concluded, South Wales Police has published the outcome of the hearing, which details that Lloyd was accused of making a fraudulent insurance claim.
Lloyd was dismissed without notice and placed on the police barred list.
Nerys Lloyd (centre, on crutches) leaving Swansea Crown Court after her plea hearing. Pic: PA
The decision on the outcome, compiled after the hearing, states that Lloyd did not attend it and neither had she submitted a written response to the allegations.
Lloyd made a claim against the South Wales Police Federation group insurance scheme for her vehicle’s repair costs.
The cost of the work to repair the vehicle was somewhere between £16 and £20 but the insurance claim made by Lloyd was for £577.55.
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The report into her dismissal states that, when the matter came to light, she admitted her wrongdoing and immediately apologised.
She was interviewed under caution on 11 October 2021, less than three weeks before the fatal paddleboarding tour.
When interviewed by police, Lloyd said she had made a “massive error of judgement” in relation to the insurance claim and she later repaid the amount in full.
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