Tag Archives: WWII

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BACK TO WORK – BILL MILLIN AND D-DAY

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(Re-posted from WhidbeyIslandBaking.com)
Bill Millin plays bagpipes for soldiers, 1944
Bill Millin plays his pipes for fellow soldiers in 1944.

This past summer got BUSY … and interesting!  As many of you know I had a few adventures as a professional SCUBA diver, working at various locations around western Washington.  While it was great to get back in the water and blow bubbles, it also required me to shift my priorities.  Big among those priorities was the completion of my second book.  As many of you ALSO know this project is a Highland bagpipe sheet music & tune history book I am writing as a fundraiser for a veteran’s organization I am a member of.  There are a few chunky tasks remaining before publication.  The most challenging of these is writing about Bill Millin, a bagpiper who played on D-Day.

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, Highland bagpipes, landing, Queen Red, Sword Beach.
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-Day by 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 / June 6, 1944: The Climatic Battle of WWII by Stephen E. Ambrose – To his great credit Mr. Ambrose seems to be making a good portion of his career on D-Day/WWII books, and to our benefit!  I have listened to his Pegasus Bridge book, largely built using interviews, and found it invaluable.  I am looking forward to one of his Eisenhower books along with others.
  • D-Day / The Air and Sea Invasion of Normandy in Photos by Nicholas A. Veronico – This bran-new 2019 publication may well be the best recent work on the subject.  In addition to concise writing it is packed with photos and data — not to mention a bibliography that can’t be beat.
  • D-Day by Peter Benoit, D-Day / The Invasion of Normandy 1944 by Rick Atkinson, and D-Day by Charlie Samuels – D-Day books for various age youths.  Straightforward photos and facts to introduce the next generation to the history and significance of this important day to remember.
  • D-Day / The WWII Invasion That Changed History by 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.

If you would like to support my writing endeavours today, please find my book “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies” on Amazon, Smashwords and their affiliates.  4 Free Recipes are available if you would like to try before you buy.

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LTC (Ret) Robert D. Parrish, US Army

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Today I attended the memorial of Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Robert D. Parrish — a good man I only met a handful of times, and to me was simply Bob.

My first impression of Bob came a little over ten years ago while in Olympia, Washington.  A number of individuals from the local Scottish community held a gathering on the steps of the state capitol to observe National Tartan Day — my duty was to perform as a soloist, further bringing attention to the heritage with our distinct music.

Robert and Muriel
Robert and his wonderful wife Muriel – fifty-three years

After our ceremony we went to a local restaurant, and since we had a sizable group we were seated in the banquet room.  Among the people I sat with was a fellow and his wife.  This fellow proceeded to show off his sharp machine-gun wit, cracking jokes about anything and everything that came up — half of his jokes involved his wife — these left me agape, however she barely seemed to notice.  He was clearly a part of the Scottish-American military contingent, wearing a green shirt presenting a number of ribbons.  On the other side of his chest was a tag that read PARRISH — I was trying to figure out if it was his name or if he was military clergy … but if he was clergy how could he have all these ribbons, and how could he possibly be making such wild jokes?!?

When we finished with lunch our server came around with our individual bills — except I didn’t seem to have one.  I asked the server and I was told that my bill had been taken care of.  Everyone in the room noticed this, so I took the moment to say thank you and asked who did this so I may thank them directly.  I looked around the room and when I came around to Bob he looked me square in the eye and said, “I did.  I appreciate your playing today — thank you.”  He barley knew me and he bought me lunch; in content it was perhaps a small thing but in context he took it personally that I had been of service to the group and to the heritage, and in doing so he helped show me gratitude.

In the years that followed I saw Bob at various events.  Every time he saw me after that first time he’d greet me with a smile and energetically belt out “How ya doin’, young man?”  Bob could be highly serious, yet he always retained his smile and wicked sense of humor.

Scottish American Military Society
Bob and his giant fur sporran at the Mount Vernon Highland Games in Washington 2014

Four or five years ago I told a friend of mine in the Scottish community that I was considering joining the local chapter of the Scottish American Military Society (SAMS) to honor my WWII grandfathers.  She replied that it was a great organization that she thought I would fit in well with, and that it had quite a few good men and women “…like Bob Parrish, and … and … and …”  Each name that she gave was a reputable individual whom I recognized and respected, and the first person she thought to name was Bob.  He never knew, but I joined SAMS Post 1889 in part because Bob Parrish was a member.

I spoke on the phone with that same friend this past week.  When I found out that we were both planning to attend his memorial I reflected on my first impression of Bob.  She replied, “Yes, he could be a very generous man.”  — she was right, and posthumously Bob further taught me about generosity.

Viet Nam war
Combat Recon – My Year With The ARVN

I learned today that Bob was a twice published author.  From the family and friends who shared about him I learned that he pushed himself to be a better person and he pushed those around him to be better.  There was a long list of respected organizations that he was a part of represented by the people in attendance at the memorial spoke about him.  The Lakewood chief of police was in attendance.  There was a lot of laughter as people shared stories about him — they weren’t so much sad about his passing but happy that their lives were touched by him. These people affirmed what I already thought about Bob — the line about how a good man elevates himself, and a great man elevates those around him.

As a final connection, I was honored to be a pall bearer along side the good men and women of SAMS Post 1889.

Bob, thank you for you many gifts.  If I ever get the opportunity I will pipe at your graveside in Arlington National Cemetery, where some of the finest men I have known and have been an influence on me are laid to rest.

LTC (Ret) Robert D. Parrish, US Army
September 6, 1940 – February 16, 2018

Combat Recon – My Year With The ARVN

Schwartzkof – An Insider View Of The Commander And His Victory

Olympia, Washington and the Washington State capitol

National Tartan Day – April 6th

Scottish American Military Society (SAMS)

World War II (WWII)

Arlington National Cemetery

Movie, Review, Zombies

Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz (2013)

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Right up front, I want to be abundantly clear about Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz, I rate this film Red Blood.

As far as I’m concerned Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz does not deserve the honor of a review or a comment on my webpage.  HOWEVER, I bought a copy, I’ve seen it, and I’m fairly thorough …. and I’ll share my opinion for other film fans of a genre so they know to avoid this terrible addition to an otherwise great series.

Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz = AVOID

So there are a few things that happen in HolloWood that really stink up art, films, creative ideas …. and I mean stink up like the scrapings from the dog park at the end of a July weekend.  One of them is excessive creative liberties …. “I paid for the license on this story, and now regardless of whatever that story is I can do what I want — and I do!”  Another one is the thought that world federation wrestlers, extreme fighters, or ultimate weight lifters can act …. instead of putting them out to pasture once they’ve body-slammed their brains out or whatever, someone tries putting them into film.  Sometimes that works — a great example would be Dwayne Johnson — not only did we get lucky there, we got a real gift.  Usually what’s done is they put them in high-action/low-story roles, and because there’s a bunch of action it must be a good film.  WRONG!

Sneaky!

This film takes the setting of Outpost and tries to give the back-story — the origins of the machine and the experiments — and strings along a battle-royal with some Russian Special Forces soldiers who come off more as resistance fighters and ultimately does nothing to establish the subtitle of the ‘Rise of the Spetsnaz‘.

Please, lob a grenade at this turd.

The opportunity for a quality, meaningful, story-establishing prequel to Outpost (2008) was entirely missed with Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz.  As my understanding goes, there was more money wasted on Rise of the Spetsnaz than there was spent on making Outpost: Black Sun (2012).  Black Sun is in my mind a superior film to Rise of the Spetsnaz.  Black Sun derivatives from the character of the original 2008 film but stays enough within the universe.  Rise of the Spetnaz just took the setting and did whatever it wanted for the sake of making some meatheads an acting career.  In Black Sun the world is being threatened by the machine and the un-dead phase-shifting Nazi super soldiers, and had the money that was thrown away in making Rise of the Spetsnazbeen put to Black Sun it could have delivered this world-threat development better.

FULL … METAL … JACKET — oh, whoops, wrong film!

I now own the 2008, 2012, and 2013 Outpost films.  I’m glad to have seen all three to know all the ground covered with the original idea, but had I known what was done with Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz I wouldn’t have paid ten cents for a copy.

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Movie, Review, Zombies

Outpost: Black Sun (2012)

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The short writing about Outpost: Black Sun is this …. at one time I had a longer writing …. it’s relative to that time that I thought I didn’t need to back-up my hard drive.  Lesson learned; now I back-up like a mad-man.

More or less to say, Outpost: Black Sun is the Yellow Puss-rated additional film that should have been made to compliment the original 2008 Outpost.

The story for Outpost: Black Sun works; you get to revisit the dangerous location found in the original film and yet go further in.  The phase-shifting zombie-Nazis are now more of a threat — in this case, to the whole world!  There are some creative liberties I could have done without.  The sad thing is that this film has less money behind it (or at least to my understanding) than Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz and did far more to carry the story line.  Had only the wasted Rise of the Spetsnaz money been put to this film, then Black Sun could have been even better.  If you liked the original Outpost, see Outpost: Black Sun —  skip seeing Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz.

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Catherine Steadman as Nazi-hunter Lena … WOWIE!
Movie, Review, Zombies

Outpost (2008)

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Outpost was my first exposure to the concept of zombie-Nazis. I found a copy on DVD at a liquidator store for $3.  Figuring that it was going to be a roach, I was just too amused at the combination of zombies and Nazis, and had to get it.  What I found out that it was a fantastic film!

Outpost is rated Green Ooze and is one of BagpiperDon’s Favourite Zombie Movies.

Oh, and if you get really opinionated about Outpost, you can debate as to whether or not the Nazis are zombies, phase-shifting zombies, or humans transformed into ghosts. Regardless, in this humble Highland bagpiper’s z-film opinion, this flick kicks ass!

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