The line I’ll always remember from the interviews at the end of the movie is when his grandson asked him if he was a hero he said “No, but I served in a company with heroes”. I’ve always been grateful for the legacy that men like Dick Winters left for my generation of soldiers, and we’ll ALL always be indebted for what did for us.
I don’t know how this story got by TSO today knowing his love for bagpipe music, but Bill Millen the famed bagpiper who was immortalized in the very excellent movie The Longest Day died Wednesday from complications arising from a stroke;
Against orders from World War I that forbade playing bagpipes on the battlefield because of the high risk of attracting enemy fire, Lord Lovat, then 32, asked Private Millin to play on the beachhead to raise morale.
When Private Millin demurred, citing the regulations, he recalled later, Lord Lovat replied: “Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.”
After wading ashore in waist-high water that he said caused his kilt to float, Private Millin reached the beach, then marched up and down, unarmed, playing the tunes Lord Lovat had requested, including “Highland Laddie” and “Road to the Isles.”
With German troops raking the beach with artillery and machine-gun fire, the young piper played on as his fellow soldiers advanced through smoke and flame on the German positions, or fell on the beach.
I remember the scene from the Cornelius Ryan book-based movie had a youthful Sean Connery cast as a private complaining about “the racket” from the bagpipes.
Thank you for the small but significant role you played that day, Bill, that day filled to the brim with heroes.
On a tip from anon in the comments a fitting tribute;
When i leave this world behind me
To another i will go
If there are no pipes in heaven
I`ll be going down below
If friends in time be severed
Someday we will meet again
I`ll return to leave you never
Be a piper to the end
This has been a day to die fo
Now the day has almost gone
Up above a choir of seabirds
Turns to face the setting sun
Now the evening dawn is calling
And all the hills are burning red
And before the night comes falling
Clouds are lined with golden thread
We watched the fires together
Shared our quarters for a while
Walked the dusty roads together
Came so many miles
This has been a day to die on
Now the day is almost done
Here the pipes will lay beside me
Silent will the battle drum
If friends in time be severed
Someday here we will meet again
I return to leave you never
Be a piper to the end
Our buddy, Skye, at Midnight Blue wrote to tell us that one of the most cherished members of the West Chester Sheepdogs has passsed;
Today I received heartbreaking news from Rich Davis informing us that a fellow Sheepdog and World War 2 Veteran, Frank McDermott, had suddenly passed away:
I have very tough and sad news to relay. Our WWII vet, Frank McDermott, passed away yesterday afternoon (Saturday 7/31) at the hospital. Frank was probably our most loyal and most beloved sheepdog. For over 2 years he never missed a rally, even on the coldest days, in freezing rain or wind, he would show up on his scooter and take his spot on the corner.
TSO and I attended one of the rallies up there back on Flag Day, 2008 and a better bunch of patriots don’t exist. I’m sure Frank will be missed.
The other day in a post Jonn gave us about Edith Shain . Reader 509th Bob left a comment regarding the passing of the last of the Oglala Lakota code talkers and I thought it merited it’s own post.
Clarence Wolf Guts was the last of the Oglala Lakota code talkers. These code talkers spoke the Lakota dialect of the Souix language, the other two dialects being Nakota and Dakota.
“He’s a very unselfish hero, always complimenting somebody else,” [Donald E.]Loudner said. “He always said to me ‘I never did anything great, I was just one of a team.’”
Sound familiar?
“I knew he was an important man to people because of his activities in the Army, but I didn’t know this many people had so much respect for him,” said Don Doyle, Wolf Guts’ only son. “I’m very proud of him, and I’m very grateful to them coming all the way here to pay respects to my father.”
Most of us became familiarized with the code talkers when the government declassified material related to the code talker program in the 1990’s and a book, then movie was written regarding the code talkers called Wind Talkers. I admit, I never saw the movie because I was worried Hollywood would screw it up. The book and movie highlighted the Navajo code talkers which was a Marine program. Many people don’t realize that Indians from 15 different tribes became code talkers. Clarence was part of the Army’s code talker program and was recruited while at Ft. Rucker in Ranger training along with his cousin Iver Crow Eagle. Clarence was Maj. Gen. Paul Mueller’s personal code talker, and traveled with him and the 81st ID as the division moved from island to island in the Pacific, headed for Japan. Iver accompanied the general’s chief of staff.
Clarence was laid to rest on June 23rd, God Bless and thank you Sir.
Her son Justin Decker said in a statement: “My mom was always willing take on new challenges, and caring for the world war 2 veterans energised her to take another chance to make a difference.”
I was 5 years old the summer that Jimmy Ray Dean’s “Big, Bad John” became a hit – my uncles used to pick on me every time the song came within earshot. Of course, I’m a couple of inches short of 6’6″ and a few pounds shy of 245, and as my uncles have left us, so has the fading reference to me as Big Bad John, but every time I hear the song it reminds of them.
Our porcine brethren are celebrating Jimmy Dean’s passage, though.
Dr. Chiroux sends us a link to a story about the guy, Jack Harrison, that may be the last survivor of the Great Escape from a Nazi POW camp which became the basis of a 60s movie of the incident.
As a camp gardener, Harrison helped dispose of the dirt excavated from three escape tunnels. He was 98th on the list of some 200 inmates designated to make the escape on March 24, 1944, but only 76 got away before guards detected the breakout and raised the alarm.
The breakout was celebrated in the 1963 film “The Great Escape.”
Only three men managed to reach safety. Adolf Hitler ordered the execution of 50 recaptured escapers, and 23 others were returned to custody.
We are honored that he was able to spend 66 more years among us. His son and daughter’s statement;
“To others he was considered a war hero, but to us he was much more than that. He was a family man first and foremost as well as a church elder, Rotarian, scholar, traveler and athlete,” his son Chris and daughter Jane said in a statement.
Dennis Hopper lost his battle with cancer today. I remember him best in the role pictured above as a judge defending his courtroom from zombie ACLU lawyers in “An American Carole” although I’ve been enjoying his acting in TV shows in the fifties like “Wanted Dead or Alive”. Blue skies,Billy.
