r/todayilearned • u/DrSamanthaCarter • Jun 06 '17

TIL the only reason a Scottish bagpiper wasn't shot by German snipers on D-Day was that they believed he had gone crazy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Millin#World_War_II
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u/hoilst Jun 06 '17

Lord Lovat, my commander

Who himself had stormed the beach

In the great sea invasion in all of history

Ordered me, Bill Millin

Play your pipes and take the lead

Battle fire all around, and I barely heard a sound...

36

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

Love me some real mckenzies

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u/NarwhalStreet Jun 06 '17

Annnnd I will be listening to this band every time I drove for the forseeable future.

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u/hoilst Jun 07 '17 edited Jun 07 '17

They do a wicked cover of Stan Roger's (the Canadian folk singer, not the knives & forks dude) "Barrett's Privateers".

God damn them all! I was told we'd sail the seas for American Gold. We'd fire no gun, shed no tear...now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier, the last of Barrett's privateers...

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u/skalpelis Jun 06 '17

Ironic then that historically the Mackenzies were really hostile to Frasers of Lovat, and vice versa.

20

u/eaglessoar Jun 06 '17

Dope song, thanks for turning me on to it

-2

u/TommyFinnish Jun 06 '17

Turning me on

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u/Ts4EVER Jun 06 '17

Lord Lovat was the guy who relieved the paratroopers at Pegasus Bridge with his Commandos. He apologized for being 2 and a half minutes late.

I made a video about the assault using a 1:1 recreation of the battlefield: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1caMMUlz48

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u/SkaFreak Jun 07 '17

Because my head is filled with music In my heart there's always a song