June 8, 2001

 Bill Millin of Dawlish, England, will be the headline speaker at events scheduled for the upcoming Operation Abilene: Honoring World War II Veterans to be held in Abilene, Kansas, June 29-July 1. Millin became well known for his D-Day role following the release of the movie, The Longest Day, in which his exploits were featured. The internationally known World War II hero will speak at the pylons of Eisenhower Center at 9 a.m. on June 30, as part of a program sponsored by the Eisenhower Center and the Eisenhower Foundation. Now 78, Millin was a private in Lord Lovat’s Scottish lst Commando Brigade on D-Day, June 6, 1944. As they approached Sword Beach Lovat ordered Millin to play the pipes – against the wishes of senior officers. A photograph of him playing his bagpipes as German shells exploded around him was printed in newspapers around the world. Marching along the beach during the German attack, Millin played Highland Laddie, Blue Bonnets Over the Border and The Road to the Isles. The lst Brigades’ mission on D-Day was to relieve Maj. John Howard and the British commando’s glider brigade at Pegasus Bridge. As Lovat’s men neared the bridge, Howard’s brigade, out of ammunition, could hear Millin’s pipes, assuring them relief was on the way. Millin and Major Howard both appeared at the Eisenhower Center in 1994.

 As a young man, Millin attended the military Pipe School at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. Dan Holt, director of the Eisenhower Center, said that "Millin represents the many heroes of WWII, who have become folk legends and an inspiration to young people and veterans throughout the world. In the face of grave danger, he stood up and walked up and down Sword Beach on D-Day to inspire his fellow Scots. Following the relief at Pegasus Bridge, his pipes were nearly destroyed by shrapnel and the medics had to patch them." The bagpipe he used on D-Day is now in the Scottish Military Museum in Edinburgh, Scotland.