Piper Bill, hero of The Longest Day, dies, aged 86

Aug 18, 2010, 18:35 GMT

London - Bill Millin, the Scottish bagpiper who defied enemy fire as he led comrades into battle at the 1944 D-Day landings in Normandy, northern France, has died at the age of 86, his family said Wednesday.

Piper Bill, as he became known, saw his courageous action immortalized in the Hollywood film, The Longest Day. Despite being unarmed, and with friends falling around him, Millin led British troops ashore on Sword Beach, continuing to play his Highland Laddie

tune.

His commanding officer, Lord Lovat, had asked him to ignore rules banning the playing of bagpipes in battle and requested that he should play to rally his comrades. Millin was 21 at the time.

'When you're young you do things you wouldn't dream of doing when you're older. I enjoyed playing the pipes, but I didn't notice I was being shot at,' he said in a BBC interview in 2006.

Millin, who was born in Glasgow, in Scotland, died in hospital in Torbay, south-west England, after a short illness, his family said in a statement.

Piper Bill would always be remembered as an 'iconic part of all those who gave so much to free Europe from tyranny,' they said.