On June 6, 1944, Brigadier Lovat led the British Commandos ashore at Sword beach on the coast of Normandy. Accompanying him, was his Personal Piper, Private Bill Millin. Without a rifle, carrying only his bagpipes, Bill marched into war wearing his father's World War I kilt.
Brigadier Lovat was Lord Lovat, the Chief of Clan Fraser, who quickly rose through the ranks to lead the British Commandos on D-Day. Private Bill Millin was part of the Commando Demonstration Troop at Commando Castle in Achnacarry, Scotland and the Brigade's best piper. A Clan Chief would never march his troops into battle without having the bagpipes to lead the way.
After a daring midnight glider raid, the commandos landed and advanced inland to link the airborne forces with the seaborne forces, linking Sword beach to the Pegasus bridge. Above the roar of the war, the skirl of the bagpipes could be heard sounding the liberation of France.
"We were pinned down on the beach, many of our comrades dead or dying," recalled Private René Rossey of No. 4 Commando, "but when Lovat's piper walked up and down the beach, piping his lungs out, the Germans seemed stunned, as if they'd seen a ghost. They briefly stopped firing and we made it to the barbed wire at the top of the beach."
This is the story of Bill Millin and Lord Lovat, as told through the eyes of the commandos and paratroopers who witnessed their legendary bravery.
