My Mad Piper dad would've been playing for the fallen

Family of D-Day icon leads the way as country marks golden generation

- BY JENNIFER HYLAND AND NORMAN SILVESTER

THE son of the "Mad Piper" who played his comrades ashore as they stormed the beaches of Normandy has said his late dad would have been out with his pipes again to mark the 80th VE Day.

Bill Millin, was the lone Scottish bagpiper who blasted out Scottish tunes as commandos fought to liberate the country from the Nazis.

Bill, the personal bagpiper of Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, was 21 when he left his boat and jumped into the cold waters wearing his dad's World War I kilt and armed with just a ceremonial dagger.

He played Highland Laddie before reaching Sword Beach as mortars and German machine-gun fire cut down those around him.

This Thursday marks 80 years since Germany surrender.

And Bill's proud son John has told how his dad would have been there with his pipes for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

John, 70, who lives in Nottinghamshire, said: "It is so incredibly important to mark VE Day and remember all those who gave their lives in World War II. Dad would definitely have been out with his pipes if he could have been.

"There is no doubt about that. I'm so proud of what my dad did, I grew up with the knowledge of that day and I was about five when I realised he was an important man.

"As he left the boat, the water was up to his waist and amid the sound and smell, as people were killed around him he played his pipes.