Talk:Bill Millin

Note from article creator

There is no infobox because I couldn't find his date (or even year) of birth anywhere, nor could I find any free-licenced photos. Cynical 10:44, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Change of last Sentence

There was really nothing in the sources to warrant calling the German soldiers superstitious. The percieved madness however, was present. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.183.176.177 (talk) 01:24, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

The Longest Day

I found a couple of references (including one based on a personal interview with Bill Millin) which state that he did not portray himself in The Longest Day. I've updated the page accordingly. Blair - Speak to me 10:15, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Location of pipes

What museum has the pipes? Abductive (reasoning) 02:01, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Piper Bills pipes played on Sword beach are on display at Dawlish museum ( I volunteer there so know this to be true ) .The confusion arises because the pipes were damaged a few days later after D-Day by shrapnel (this is detailed in Bills book of his exploits called 'Invasion'.) and the pipes displayed in Pegasus bridge museum in Normandy are his 'spare'set which he did use during the rest of the campaign.There is a letter to this effect on display in Dawlish museum from Pegasus Bridge museum acknowledging this fact.Billmillinfan (talk) 18:38, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

later life

Millin survived the end of the war by more than half a century, and yet there is not a single sentence about his post-war life in the biography. Could anyone competent please add something here? Thanks ViennaUK (talk) 14:57, 21 January 2011 (UTC) After demob bill went to work on the Lovat estate,felling trees etc. but it was too quiet for him so after answering a newspaper ad he joined a travelling theatre group , playing his pipes at the beginning and end of the show and also during the interval. he then decided to take a training course in Glasgow to become a registered mental health nurse where he met his future wife Margaret.They married in 1954 and later had their only child, a son , named John, who is married and has two children - Jacob and Jessica. the family moved to Dawlish ,in Devon, in 1962 and both bill and Margaret completed 25 years service at Langdon hospital on the outskirts of Dawlish. the family lived on elm grove road in dawlish from 1963.bill retired from work at langdon hospital in 1988.Sadly his wife Margaret developed cancer in 1998 and bill cared for her at home until she died in 2000.Piper Bill was always a popular figure in Dawlish,especially with the British legion and could be seen at many events in the town and would play his pipes at the head of the carnival procession . In 2002 he was all set to travel to Scotland when he collapsed at the bottom of the stairs with a stroke. He lay there for 2 days until he managed to gain enough movement in his arm to tap on the neighbouring wall, with the phone, to raise the alarm. He was now confined to a motorised wheelchair and after leaving hospital piper Bill lived in palm court nursing home on Dawlish seafront for the next 7 years until his death in august 2010,aged 88. In 2004 bill presented his famous D-day bagpipes, along with his kilt,beret and dirk , to Dawlish museum - where they are still proudly displayed.

With a dry sense of humour and a relentless fighting spirit he never let his disability get in the way of anything or deter him from travelling back to France every year  to meet old friends and pay tribute to his fallen comrades.

(if you would like to see an interview with bill filmed at the museum in front of his pipes ,simply google 'piper bill interview 2008, on youtube.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Billmillinfan (talk • contribs) 18:28, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Bill is born in Regina - Saskatchewan -Canada, not in Glasgow. At that moment his father John Mac Millin originated from the area of Fort William, served the RCMP. They went home in Scotland when he was proposed to manage a firm.Bill was aged of 12. Bill began then to learn the pipes with a member of the Glasgow City Police Bill Millin interview France 77.193.88.236 (talk) 15:53, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

Birth location

The article says he was born in Regina, but the Infobox says Glasgow. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.246.25.55 (talk) 05:44, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

External links modified

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Pegasus Bridge action

It may be true that "most (of the initial casualties) were shot through their berets" but Stephen Ambrose was not a reliable source when asking the time of day, and a WWII era helmet is no better than a prayer at stopping an 7.92mm bullet. Assuming it is even true that the first men across were wearing berets instead of helmets it matters not in the slightest. The paragraph seems to create a false distinction about the preparedness of the troops, and it is kind of plagiarizing a plagiarizer, which is not a good look for an encyclopedia. 74.96.230.76 (talk) 18:29, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

Further Improvements Desperately NEEDED

Although a cited source, I removed the sentences about Millin going traditional / not wearing under his kilt. It was unnecessary, inappropriate, and unbecoming of Wikipedia let alone any 1/2 decent historical writing. There are far more details from the day that can be included by contrast to this juvenile contribution. To that end ...

This section is already poorly written. It reads considerably better with the above sentences removed. The order of the section is skewed.

1. The first sentence of the first paragraph ought to be with the top of the page. The fact that he was the D-Day piper is The Most Important Aspect .... not that he was Lord Lovat's (who?) personal piper.
2. When LLovat asked/instructed Millin to play should be indicated as prior to D-Day.
3. Then suddenly ol' Bill is belting out 3 of the 4 tunes he played that day (not that the 4th is ever mentioned) on Sword / Queen Red, a battle that took place in one sentence -- AMAZING!
4. A dozen seconds later Piper Bill is interviewing Nazi POWs.
5. Now we move to Paragraph 2 where we travel back in time to the training that happened PRIOR TO D-DAY, and therefore should not be in the section entitled D-Day ....DUH. But wait, this is not a paragraph -- it is a run on sentence -- with hyphens -- that take us to when Bill got dressed before departing for France. What a mess -- but wait, there's more!
6. Suddenly Lord Lovat and the gang (now paragraph 3) skip taking Ouistreham, or perhaps accomplished this SO FAST that it wasn't worth mentioning, and while we're at it let's bypass the march to Bénouville (west of Pegasus Bridge) and BOOM Pegasus taken, day over, cake and party hats for everyone -- YAY!
7. And then there's more stuff following Pegasus, when Bill played, on D-Day, which is what he was famous for, but ... you know .... whatever.

Millin did not only play on Sword / Queen Red that day followed by playing during the capture of Pegasus Bridge. He first played on the landing craft while still in England (Road To The Isles). He played going ashore Sword / Queen Red in the water (Highland Laddie). He played on the beach a few feet from the water under heavy fire (Road To The Isles, which is what he said he mainly played that day). He played at the bridge (All The Blue Bonnets Are Over The Border). He played after the bridge for a little red haired French girl (Brown Haired Maiden). But hey, this section is vaguely better than when my peers in the piping community talk about Bill Millin -- they only talk about him playing on the beach / under fire / Germans thought he was nuts and his spirit would haunt them if they shot him.

ManOnPipes (talk) 04:45, 9 May 2019 (UTC)