Daring pipers. The story of Bill Millin

This is a stamp of the Isle of Man. (the one located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland). It depicts the "Mad Piper" disembarking from a landing craft on D-Day. We see only the tip of a bass drone and what looks to be a drone-cord ribbon.

"Bill" Millin (1922 – 2010) is remembered for playing the pipes whilst under fire during the D-Day landing in Normandy. Pipers had traditionally been used in battle by Scottish soldiers but by the time of the Second World War the use of bagpipes was restricted by the British Army to rear areas. However, Millin was personal piper to Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, commander of 1st Special Service Brigade at D-Day. Lovat resolved to ignore these orders and ordered Millin to play. When Private Millin demurred, citing the regulations, Lord Lovat replied: “Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.” Piper William Millin became worldwide known as the only man during the landing who wore a kilt – the same Cameron tartan kilt his dad had worn in Flanders during the Great War – armed only with his pipes and the Sgian Dubh, sheathed inside his kilt-hose on the right side.

The original photograph, taken at approximately 8.40 am, 6 June 1944. can be seen in the Imperial War Museum