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Bill Millin D-Day bagpipe player died today ............


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General Apathy

It's just been announced on the radio today that Bill Millin,

 

Lord Lovat's bagpipe player on D-Day died today aged 88.

 

Immortalised in the sixties film ' The Longest Day '

 

Rest in peace Bill it was a pleasure to know you :salute:

 

Lewis

 

 

http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/bill_millin.htm

 

 

 

..

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R.I.P. TO ONE OF ENGLAND'S GREATEST GENERATION.

 

 

Firstly, Piper Millin was a Scot and therefore "British"...NOT English. Thank you.

 

Sabrejet

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post-344-1282145461.jpg

 

 

Thanks Ian, Bill, Fielding, Tuefelhund, Jack's son for adding to this post on Bill.

 

Bill playing a lament on the pipes for the death of the starter motor on my Jeep, Paris 1976.

 

Great Guy, so modest and quiet in nature, cheers Bill I will raise a Gin & tonic to you as 6 pm this evening ;)

 

Lewis

 

 

apologies for image quality, old film stock pre digital days.

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post-344-1282145461.jpg

Thanks Ian, Bill, Fielding, Tuefelhund, Jack's son for adding to this post on Bill.

 

Bill playing a lament on the pipes for the death of the starter motor on my Jeep, Paris 1976.

 

Great Guy, so modest and quiet in nature, cheers Bill I will raise a Gin & tonic to you as 6 pm this evening ;)

 

Lewis

apologies for image quality, old film stock pre digital days.

I hope he lifted your jeeps spirits as he did the troops o D-Day. God speed Bill. Robert

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Thanks Robert & Erwin.

 

These guys that appear on the pages of the history of WWII are sadly passing

 

Cheers Lewis

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RIP!

 

 

SNF05DAYF1-380_818720a.jpg

 

Hi Ricardo, thank you for adding the nice images of Bill to the post, fitting memories of him.

 

Cheers Lewis

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I wonder if this American was following Mr. Millin's example...

 

post-70-1282266617.jpg

 

Hi Gunbarrel, that's quite a picture of loneliness a single soldier stood out there in a panorama of snow. I have never seen that photo used anywhere before.

 

Thanks Lewis

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I just watched the movie two days ago. Wish I could have met him.

 

God bless him and his family.

 

Thanks Maw, appreciate your comment if you ha dmet him you would have been astounded at his humility.

 

Cheers lewis

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Mr. Standfast

Always loved The Longest Day. I didn't realize the bagpiper was a real person, thought he was just a Hollywood invention! No soldier like a Scot.

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Always loved The Longest Day. I didn't realize the bagpiper was a real person, thought he was just a Hollywood invention! No soldier like a Scot.

 

Hi Mr Standfast, Bill was real in every sense of the word and was well recorded as having played the pipes ashore and at Pegasus bridge. By the time the film was made in 1962 Bill was around mid forties and like most people several pounds heavier than he was at 21 when he landed on the beaches.

 

In the film his part was taken by a young piper who was the Queen mothers personal piper.

 

Cheers Lewis

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Weren't his bagpipes on display at the Pegasus Bridge Museum in Normandy?

 

Erwin

 

Hi Erwin, I think the pipes at Pegasus museum must have been a representative pair, it was stated by the BBC back in January 2001 that his pipes were given to the National Museum of Scotland.

 

Now having said that the museum at Pegasus could be a representative pair I'm sure that Bill probably had more than one set of pipes during his sixty years of playing, just depends on which was the 1944 set.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/1119994.stm

 

Cheers Lewis

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