British Infantry

Bill Millin (1922/2010), was a scottish bagpiper played highland tunes as his fellow commandos landed on a Normandy beach on D-Day.-
Millin was a 21-year-old private in Britain’s First Special Service Brigade when his unit landed on the strip of coast the Allies code-named Sword Beach, near the French city of Caen at the eastern end of the invasion front chosen by the Allies for the landings on June 6, 1944.-
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The young piper was approached shortly before the landings by the brigade’s commanding officer, Brig. Simon Fraser, who as the 15th Lord Lovat was the hereditary chief of the Clan Fraser and one of Scotland’s most celebrated aristocrats. Against orders from World War I that forbade playing bagpipes on the battlefield because of the high risk of attracting enemy fire, Lord Lovat, then 32, asked Private Millin to play on the beachhead to raise morale.
When Private Millin demurred, citing the regulations, he recalled later, Lord Lovat replied: “Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.”
 
In this pic, the Prime Minister W Churchill and General Sir Bernard Paget (Commander-in-Chief of Home Forces) watch infantry soldiers demonstrating on a battle course at a school of infantry at Barnard Castle, Country Durham on 4 Dec 1942.
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Bill Millin (1922/2010), was a scottish bagpiper played highland tunes as his fellow commandos landed on a Normandy beach on D-Day.-
Millin was a 21-year-old private in Britain’s First Special Service Brigade when his unit landed on the strip of coast the Allies code-named Sword Beach, near the French city of Caen at the eastern end of the invasion front chosen by the Allies for the landings on June 6, 1944.-
CAI2004_zps468a62e3.jpg

The young piper was approached shortly before the landings by the brigade’s commanding officer, Brig. Simon Fraser, who as the 15th Lord Lovat was the hereditary chief of the Clan Fraser and one of Scotland’s most celebrated aristocrats. Against orders from World War I that forbade playing bagpipes on the battlefield because of the high risk of attracting enemy fire, Lord Lovat, then 32, asked Private Millin to play on the beachhead to raise morale.
When Private Millin demurred, citing the regulations, he recalled later, Lord Lovat replied: “Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.”

Im friends with Bill Millins son on facebook.
 
The 51st (Highland) Infantry Division was nicknamed the "Highway Decorators" in reference to the 'HD' insignia which adorned road signs along their axis of advance. The members were immensely proud of their Divisional sign which they portrayed at every opportunity. (Sfax, Tunisia, april 1943)
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