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.”
Read more on D-Day:
Tearful D-Day veterans set sail for France
Why MI5 questioned crossword writer before D-Day
Weather report changed the course of history
The story of 24 hours that changed the world
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.”
? Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts ?
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.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has called on Sir Keir Starmer to sack Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq over allegations she lived in properties linked to allies of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the deposed prime minister of Bangladesh.
It comes after the current Bangladeshi leader, Muhammad Yunus, said London properties used by Ms Siddiq should be investigated.
He told the Sunday Times the properties should be handed back to his government if they were acquired through “plain robbery”.
Tory leader Ms Badenoch said: “It’s time for Keir Starmer to sack Tulip Siddiq.
“He appointed his personal friend as anti-corruption minister and she is accused herself of corruption.
“Now the government of Bangladesh is raising serious concerns about her links to the regime of Sheikh Hasina.”
Ms Siddiq insists she has “done nothing wrong”.
Her aunt was ousted from office in August following an uprising against her 20-year leadership and fled to India.
Ms Siddiq is also named with her aunt in Bangladesh court documents about meetings with the Russian government.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called on Sir Keir to sack the minister
Read more from Sky News:
Ten Reform councillors quit in protest
Liz Truss sends cease and desist letter to Starmer
As economic secretary to the Treasury, Ms Siddiq is responsible for policy on both the City and tackling corruption.
She referred herself to the prime minister’s ethics watchdog on Monday following the reports about the properties.
On the same day, the prime minister said: “Tulip Siddiq has acted entirely properly by referring herself to the independent adviser, as she’s now done, and that’s why we brought into being the new code.
“It’s to allow ministers to ask the adviser to establish the facts, and yes, I’ve got confidence in her, and that’s the process that will now be happening.”
Police in Aberdeen have widened the search area for two sisters who disappeared four days ago in the city.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV on Market Street after leaving their home on Tuesday at around 2.12am.
The sisters – who are part of a set of triplets and originally from Hungary – crossed the Victoria Bridge to the Torry area and turned right on to a footpath next to the River Dee.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti were last seen on CCTV in Market Street. Pic: Police Scotland/PA
They headed in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club but officers said there is no evidence to suggest the missing women left the immediate area.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and a marine unit have been trying to trace the pair.
The sisters crossed Victoria Bridge before walking along a footpath next to the River Dee
The pair were heading in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club on the south side of the River Dee
Further searches are being carried out towards the Port of Aberdeen’s South Harbour and Duthie Park.
Police Scotland said it is liaising with authorities in Hungary to support the relatives of the two sisters.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Eliza and Henrietta’s family are understandably extremely worried about them and we are working tirelessly to find them.
“We are seriously concerned about them and have significant resources dedicated to the inquiry.”
The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Officers have requested businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review their CCTV footage for the early morning of Tuesday 7 January.
Police added they are keen to hear from anyone with dashcam footage from that time.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway