As we approach Memorial Day it should be remembered the power of “The Pipes” as part of the history we pay honor to on Memorial Day. During WWII a 21 year old Commando named William “Bill” Millin was attached to the British 1st Special Service Brigade. Millin , a Canadian born Scottish Piper, was the personal Piper for Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, and Commander of the 1st Special Service Brigade. This unit was assigned on D-Day to Sword Beech as part of the Normandy Allied Invasion Force. As the Commandos stormed ashore. Millin, dressed in full Kilt and armed only with his Sgian Dubh and his Bagpipes. Lord Lovat ordered Millin to begin playing, even as his fellow commandos were being cut down around him, to motivate his fellow soldiers to continue toward their objectives. German snipers captured after the battle would later say that they didn’t shoot Millin because they thought he had gone “MAD”. Millin, and his Bagpipes also saw action in several other combat zones where he continued Piping the soldiers forward, before being demobilized in 1946. Millin lived out the rest of his life in Scotland till his death in 2010 at the age of 88.