“The Patriotic Piper, Vol. I” — my first Highland bagpipe sheet music book — has PUBLISHED!!! Since it’s launch last Sunday things have been non-stop. I’ve spent nearly 10 hours each day promoting the book online — mostly talking with people about its contents and my approach to the work. Positive reviews are coming in on Amazon and people are saying great things on Facebook. The book and e-book even hit Amazon’s “#1 New Release in Military Marches“.
Here’s the short list of what’s in the first installment of The Patriotic Piper …
20 traditional Scottish American military and patriotic bagpipe compositions, arranged into 8 performance numbers
15 delicious Scottish and Irish recipes
Numerous history and trivia writings accompanying the tunes and recipes
Various people have messaged saying that their copies are already showing up in the mail. They tell me the book looks great, and it is even more interesting and fun than they expected. As an author … well … that tells me I did my job!
(Back Cover)
Several proud new book owners claim to like my concept of accompanying the compositions with the tune histories. Some even said that this was a deciding factor in their book purchase. Numerous people have indicated their excitement about my inclusion of traditional Scottish and Irish recipes as the second half of the book. Certainly, there’s something for everyone in The Patriotic Piper, Vol. 01.
The Patriotic Piper is a fundraiser item for the Scottish American Military Society Post #1889. Not only am I a member, I also serve as an officer leading our small but stout Pipe & Drum corps. This is the official music collection of the Post. The monies raised by this book will assist Post 1889 with their projects. S.A.M.S. is a national organization and is a Congressionally Chartered Veterans Service Organization, which is dedicated to the preservation of the contributions of the Scots to the American Military and Society.
The Patriotic Piper is Available Now on Amazon Print Edition — Published 22Nov2020 E-Book — Published 05Nov2020
The legend of Bill Millin is well-known in the Highland bagpipe community. The short story that everyone knows is that “Piper Bill” went ashore on Sword Beach* — he carried no firearm, wore a kilt, played bagpipes, and never got shot by German forces because they thought he had gone insane. While all of this is true and I already knew from lore, I have been formally researching the whole story and it is far more detailed.
(*Queen Red, the furthest east section of the invasion)
Bill Millin with his bagpipes landing on the Queen Red section of Sword Beach.
It is an honor to be writing about this man’s role in the June 6, 1944, Normandy invasion and it is important to me that I get it right. I have reached out for every information source I can locate. Presently I have a considerable stack of library books on D-Day, audiobooks and e-books, media on order, one film, along with articles and interviews I’ve found online. Something I am particularly excited about is that I have made contact with Bill Millin’s son and grandson online and they have agreed to review my work once complete. Also, it seems that each time I stop by the library to pick up another piece of media I’ve ordered, I find and buy a D-Day or WWII book from their used book rack. Apparently I’m building my own D-Day/WWII library $3 at a time!
The bronze life-size statue of Piper Bill Millin unveiled on 8 June 2013 at Colleville-Montgomery, near Sword, in France.
As I review these history sources I have found some problems in the information. Generally speaking I have books written by historians and articles written by journalists. Some of the errors I have identified due to my Highland bagpipe playing career. Some of the errors seem to be words and concepts the previous writers did not fully understand. The biggest problem I have been finding is historical inconsistencies. Generally the greater collection of errors come from the journalists — these individuals tend to work at a faster pace with less study than historians. Usually I can sift through the historical inconsistencies by applying information from military documents along with identifying the details that are consistent in history books and interviews from Bill Millin himself.
As said it is an honor to be writing about this man. It is an honor as a bagpiper and as the grandson of WWII veterans. My aim is to help clean up some of the history mistakes that have developed and promote the greater story of Bill Millin’s role in D-Day among my piping peers along with my non-piping readers. I am sure that you too will be impressed by this one aspect of The Greatest Generation and the greatest invasion in the history of the world.
Books and Other Media
The Longest Day: 6 June 1944 D-Dayby Cornelius Ryan – This is the seminal D-Day history book behind the film. I am presently about half way through it and it is nothing short of AMAZING! The cast-of-thousands film by Darryl F. Zanuck is really only a brief representation of the book although still well worth viewing.
D-Day / The WWII Invasion That Changed Historyby Deborah Hopkinson – I’m frankly disappointed by this book. Picking it up it appears to be on-par with the work of Cornelius Ryan and Stephen Ambrose (ETC) — the book is large and thick — but that is a first impression only. Upon closer inspection, as an author I can tell you there are a few tricks that have been used to make the book appear more impressive. The two main tricks is that the book is not single-spaced and it is loaded with pictures; take out the photos, make it single spaced, and it is half the length at best. This 2018 publication does not appear to present anything new on the topic and is possibly written in such a manner as to not ‘offend’ the Politically Correct (ETC) crowd &/or to spoon-feed D-Day to the delicate middle-grade blue-ribbon crowd. The good thing I can say about the book is that it is worth it for accessing the D-Day related pictures … other than that, other books are in my opinion better information sources whereas this one is comparatively watered-down. And for my uses … no apparent mention of Bill Millin on Sword Beach or at Pegasus Bridge.
“The Patriotic Piper, Vol. I” — my first Highland bagpipe sheet music book — has PUBLISHED!!! Since it’s launch last Sunday things have been non-stop. I’ve spent nearly 10 hours each day promoting the book online — mostly talking with people about its contents and my approach to the work. Positive reviews are coming in on Amazon and people are saying great things on Facebook. The book and e-book even hit Amazon’s “#1 New Release in Military Marches“.
