"Bill Millin, The Mad Piper" Topic

The other day I was posting on a thread about Pegasus Bridge on the WWII Scenario board. On the eve of the D-Day anniversary I wanted to remember all those who took part. Attached is a short interview of Bill Millin, piper for Lord Lovat, 1st Special Service Brigade:

link

And here is a link to "Hielan' Laddie." It was good enough for him, it is good enough for me:

YouTube link

The Scottish piper at Pegasus bridge was always one of my favorite scenes in The Longest Day. I just thought it was some cute generic scene they wrote for the movie, but about a year ago I stumbled on an article about Bill Millin. He and Lord Lovat are now two of my favorite WWII heroes. Only a Scotsman would defy regulations and bring his personal piper.

I had the enormous honour to meet him on Pegasus Bridge in June 2009. A remarkable man.

My Father in Law saw him in action so to speak on 6/6/44. He thought he was mad, he said he heard the pipes and then was amazed to see the piper leading the way.

How can you have war without bagpipes? It's unthinkable.

Here's a pic of Piper Millin with the Commandos in camp just before the Normandy invasions.

There is a famous picture showing a portion of Millin as Lovat's commandos hit the beach and it's a shame that most of the still photos and film shot of him on the beach and afterwards was lost before it could be developed or preserved.

Whoops, I now note that the above pic is already displayed on the blog entry.

Years ago I had a market stall in Kitchener, Ontario (Canada). The lady next to me was a kiltmaker. Her husband used the off-cuts to make ties, coasters, hair ribbons etc. – good scot's thrift at work.

One morning a really arrogant man came along and yelled at her for having Frazer tartan items on her table. He insisted she remove tham as he was president of the Frazer Highland Association of Canada and his association had not given her permission. She was very embarassed but stood her ground, producing an engraved charter from Lord Lovat giving her permission to fashion articles in the Frazer tartan as she was his kiltmaker and he of course was Frazer of Frazer, she also produced a signed photograph of her with Lord Lovat.

It was great seeing this bumptious Blimp of a man taken down a peg. Of course, had her husband been there, he would have just 'put the heid in'!

My friend Ted (centre, below) says that the main thing he noticed about Sword Beach, in the minutes between landing and being wounded, was the sheer noise – guns, bullet-cracks, booms, men shouting war-cries, screams, tank engines revving like crazy and firing their armament… But above it all, in snatches between the noise, were the pipes.

As long as they followed Ryan's books everything in them happened, the ending is a bit of let's get this thing wrapped up because I'm running out of film.

Is there still debate about what tune Millin played? In the movie they've got him playing two!

From the link in the OP:
"Bill Millin was the Piper of the 1st Special Service Brigade, and was amongst the more noticeable men to land on the Normandy Beaches on the 6th June as he played the Brigade ashore with his bagpipes. The following is his personal account of D-Day…"

"…I struck up the Pipes and paddled through the surf playing "Hieland Laddie", and Lord Lovat turned round and looked at me and [gestured approvingly]."

"…When I finished, Lovat asked for another tune. Well, when I looked round – the noise and people lying about shouting and the smoke, the crump of mortars, I said to myself "Well, you must be joking surely." He said "What was that?" and he said "Would you mind giving us a tune?" "Well, what tune would you like, Sir?" "How about The Road to the Isles?" "Now, would you want me to walk up and down, Sir?" "Yes. That would be nice. Yes, walk up and down."

I cannot say that is the be all and end all but it is supposed to be his account of the landing and says he played two pieces. Could that be the cause of the confusion?

Does anyone know why Millin did not play himself in the film? Apparently he was portrayed by Pipe Major Leslie de Laspee, the official piper to the late Queen Mother.

Nobody else played themselves in the film, so there was no reason for him to do so.

Just seemed odd that the guy was still around, and the person they chose to play him looked a lot older than 21 (and wasn't a recognised actor either).

IIRC, Richard Todd came close to doing so. He plays his own commanding officer for the Pegasus Bridge scenes, during which I believe he has a dialogue with another actor who is playing Richard Todd the officer.

Very true.

Richard Todd was a platoon commander in 7 Para, which was the unit that relieved John Howard's D/2 Ox & Bucks at Pegasus Bridge. I can't remember if there's dialogue, but they certainly do meet each other.

Somewhat confusingly, in reality John Howard had a Lt Sweeney who was known as 'Todd', while Lt Richard Todd was known in 7 Para as 'Sweeney'! :o)

Bagpipes aren't just something you pick up and pretend that you're playing. You have to be able to inflate the bag and keep the drones going at the very least. You average actor would have no clue; you have to have a piper or at the least someone with a rudimentary understanding of how a bagpipe works, and some experience in striking in the drones and keeping the pipes going, in order to be not just convincing on screen, but in fact be able to stand up straight with the pipes balanced on your shoulder – and that is not something accomplished in ten minutes. Which is why you would want to find a piper to play another piper in front of the cameras.

Incidentally, people keep talking about "regulations" regarding bagpipes in battle, but interestingly never actually refer to which ones. The Calgary Highlanders (of the 2nd Canadian Division) went into action a month later, at Point 67 south of Caen, with each of the assault companies accompanied by pipers. It was the first – and last – time they did that. Pipers were still, I believe, on the official War Establishment of infantry battalions drawn from Highland regiments. If I remember correctly, there were half a dozen permitted; many battalions had full pipe bands, with the additional musicians slotted in to other W.E. positions, usually stretcher bearer spots or other positions in administration or support companies.

While there was no official encouragement for exposing the musicians to hazard during combat operations, I'm not sure there was anything like a King's Regulation forbidding them from the battle zone either. Mostly, they did their job as soldiers, and performed their musical duties in the rear areas, notably on route marches in training, at commemorations and parades such as the service at Dieppe after the liberation, or the victory parades after V-E Day. The Drums and Pipes of The Gordon Highlanders had a famous parade at which a drum, captured in 1940, was handed back after V-E Day.

I saw Billy Millin play at a re-enactment festival at Bletchley Park.

Do I win?

I hasve not seen any official documentation, but I believe there are frequent references to it being a War Office policy that had been expressed in some fashion to the unit commanders that pipers were to be kept out of action since they would be exposed to too much danger and were not in a position to easily defend themselves (obviously). The casualty rate of pipers in WWI had been very great (I think there were around 1,100 lost) and there was a fear that with pipers hard to replace, battalions would find themselves soon with no pipe band at all, and these were judged too valuable for morale behind the lines and other special duties (let alone the role pipers played in medical support or as fighting soldiers when not performing).

But regiments being what they were, the official directives were widely ignored when it suited the whims of individual COs. Canadians in particular seem to have gone their own way when they felt like it. Colonels often set their own policies and so we see soldiers in kilts (also officially withdrawn from service and not sanctioned) and pipers playing men into action on many occasions. Some battalions were more aggressive in this than others, from what I read. There were special times, too, like at El Alamein, when it was encouraged for the pipers to strike in for a big attack.

It is true (above comments) that a piper can always tell when someone in a film is faking. Some movies have particularly poor bagpipe sequences, no matter how well staged they are (say, Mary Queen of Scots, which shows a lot of obviously phony bagpipes and miming pipers during the aftermath of one battle). Joyeux Noel, by contrast, hired real pipers to depict the musicians, and it shows, plus the actor playing the padre obviously had some experience himself or was very well tutored on set. War Horse also showed a convincing piping scene with a true player.

In The Longest day, you can tell that the music was overdubbed afterward, even though the actor playing Millin was himself a piper. There are times when he is playing on screen but there is no music heard, and vice-versa. The music strikes up too quickly at other times, or ends too abruptly. Saddest of all, they dub the wrong tunes! (What you hear is not always what had been requested.)

PS: see parallel discussion on this board on Piper Millin for an updated post from me about the controversies around his uniform and pics of my recent painted Warlord 28mm mini.

Virtually all film music is dubbed, for production reasons. Often much of the speech is – other wise you'd hear cars and aeroplanes in Middle Earth!

Nobody else played themselves in the film, so there was no reason for him to do so.

Richard Todd got to speak to himself. He played Major Howard, and in one scene is speaking to a Para officer from 6th airborne, who Todd claimed was actually him (though the Extra probably didn't know!)