Bill Millin's Bagpipes Defied Gunfire

On D-Day, 21-year-old Canadian-born British soldier Bill Millin walked across Sword Beach playing his bagpipes while enemy fire killed men around him. British Army regulations restricted pipers to rear areas, but Lord Lovat, commander of the 1st Special Service Brigade, ignored the rule and ordered his personal piper to play during the landing. Armed only with his pipes and a small knife, Millin played several Highland tunes as the commandos advanced toward Pegasus Bridge. Millin later said that captured German snipers told him they had not shot him because they believed he had gone mad.

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