For the past number of weeks I have used every minute available to study a part of WWII/D-Day history for my current book project. I’ve checked out nearly everything available from my library, clicked on countless weblinks, listened to 2 audiobooks, watched videos, and worked the indexes of nearly a dozen books. It’s been a fascinating study, I’ve learned loads, and even grown to where I seriously need a break from this focus. All of this has been to write 2 short essays for my next book — which is intended to be a fundraiser for a veteran’s group I am a member of. Last night I finally had a break-through! RESEARCH
Bill Millin landing on Sword Beach.
Yesterday I must have hit a critical mass in my research — I finally completed 1 of these 2 writings! These 2 essays are on Bill Millin — a Scottish soldier who was asked by his Brigade Commander to defy the stipulations of the British Army and play his bagpipes during the Normandy invasion. The playing of bagpipes on the battlefield had been officially ceased after WWI due to the high rate of loss of these soldiers. On D-Day Bill Millin wore a kilt and carried no modern weapon short of a small traditional knife called a sgian dubh. He play near the shoreline as his fellow commandos fought. He never got shot or injured. Later he learned from captured German snipers that they didn’t target him because they thought he had gone mad! Millin and his Brigade along with other Allied forces then moved inland. First liberating the port town of Ouistreham then relieving the 6th Airborne Division who had captured strategically important bridges over the Caen Canal and River Orne.
Glider infantry of the 2nd Battalion, Ox & Bucks Light Infantry, of the 6th Airlanding Brigade, 6th Airborne Division, in Normandy 1944.
WOW — weeks of research and I can now sum that up in one long paragraph! In any case … for the last number of things to accomplish and complete this book, this aspect has been the most daunting. I thought I would write the longer essay and then shorten it to what I wrote last night, but it seems I’ve gone the other way around — now I can build the long one off of the short one!
The rest of the project is downhill from here — last night’s development was a big relief & an IMPORTANT Step Toward Completion! RESEARCH
The legend of Bill Millin is well-known in the Highland bagpipe community. The short story that everyone knows is that “Piper Bill” went ashore on Sword Beach* — he carried no firearm, wore a kilt, played bagpipes, and never got shot by German forces because they thought he had gone insane. While all of this is true and I already knew from lore, I have been formally researching the whole story and it is far more detailed.
(*Queen Red, the furthest east section of the invasion)
Bill Millin with his bagpipes landing on the Queen Red section of Sword Beach.
It is an honor to be writing about this man’s role in the June 6, 1944, Normandy invasion and it is important to me that I get it right. I have reached out for every information source I can locate. Presently I have a considerable stack of library books on D-Day, audiobooks and e-books, media on order, one film, along with articles and interviews I’ve found online. Something I am particularly excited about is that I have made contact with Bill Millin’s son and grandson online and they have agreed to review my work once complete. Also, it seems that each time I stop by the library to pick up another piece of media I’ve ordered, I find and buy a D-Day or WWII book from their used book rack. Apparently I’m building my own D-Day/WWII library $3 at a time!
The bronze life-size statue of Piper Bill Millin unveiled on 8 June 2013 at Colleville-Montgomery, near Sword, in France.
As I review these history sources I have found some problems in the information. Generally speaking I have books written by historians and articles written by journalists. Some of the errors I have identified due to my Highland bagpipe playing career. Some of the errors seem to be words and concepts the previous writers did not fully understand. The biggest problem I have been finding is historical inconsistencies. Generally the greater collection of errors come from the journalists — these individuals tend to work at a faster pace with less study than historians. Usually I can sift through the historical inconsistencies by applying information from military documents along with identifying the details that are consistent in history books and interviews from Bill Millin himself.
As said it is an honor to be writing about this man. It is an honor as a bagpiper and as the grandson of WWII veterans. My aim is to help clean up some of the history mistakes that have developed and promote the greater story of Bill Millin’s role in D-Day among my piping peers along with my non-piping readers. I am sure that you too will be impressed by this one aspect of The Greatest Generation and the greatest invasion in the history of the world.
Books and Other Media
D-Day / Minute by Minuteby Jonathan Mayo – This book gives a ‘real-life’ presentation of D-Day as each hour passes. It is an amazing book and I would be thrilled to have a copy in my collection.
The Longest Day: 6 June 1944 D-Dayby Cornelius Ryan – This is the seminal D-Day history book behind the film. I am presently about half way through it and it is nothing short of AMAZING! With it I watched the cast-of-thousands film by Darryl F. Zanuck for my third-or-so time. While it does not include everything in Ryan’s book it presents much of it with considerable adherence to detail — not common these days with books-turned-film — well worth viewing.
I also have copies of the following e-books from my library however have not had time to get into them yet — D-Dayby Stephen E. Ambrose and D-Day / The Battle for Normandyby (Sir) Antony Beevor. I’m already impressed by Ambrose’s work and from what I’ve gathered about Beevor’s book it sounds to be a valuable text.
Middle-grade and Youth-oriented Books
D-Dayby Charlie Samuels – Part of the “Turning Points In US Military History” collection, for its target audience this book looked excellent!
D-Day / A True Bookby Peter Benoit – This book is similar to the Charlie Samuels’ text … only that I’m uncomfortable with a history book that says it is a ‘true’ history book.
D-Day / The Invasion of Normandy 1944 by Rick Atkinson – I plowed through the Atkinson book looking for information on my subject. In my opinion based on the other books I have studied, the author glosses over details and frequently presents them with gross mistakes.
D-Day / The WWII Invasion That Changed Historyby Deborah Hopkinson – I’m frankly disappointed by this book. Picking it up it appears to be on-par with the work of Cornelius Ryan and Stephen Ambrose (ETC) — the book is large and thick — but that is a first impression only. Upon closer inspection, as an author I can tell you there are a few tricks that have been used to make the book appear more impressive. The two main tricks is that the book is not single-spaced and it is loaded with pictures; take out the photos, make it single spaced, and it is half the length at best. This 2018 publication does not appear to present anything new on the topic and is possibly written in such a manner as to not ‘offend’ the Politically Correct (ETC) crowd &/or to spoon-feed D-Day to the delicate middle-grade blue-ribbon crowd. The good thing I can say about the book is that it is worth it for accessing the D-Day related pictures … other than that, other books are in my opinion better information sources whereas this one is comparatively watered-down. And for my uses … no apparent mention of Bill Millin on Sword Beach or at Pegasus Bridge.
