Private, 4th West India Regiment
Born: c 1840, Tortola, Virgin Islands
Died: 14 January 1868, Belize City, Belize

[London Gazette issue 23205 dtd 4 Jan 1867, published 4 Jan 1867.]
I have many interests, so this is going to be a blog on lots of subjects. Submarines, my family, history, books I read, the space programme, archaeology, astronomy, current events, the occasional joke.... Just don't expect any politics, sports or deep philosophy, and we should get along fine.
Bill Millin, a Scottish bagpiper who played highland tunes as his fellow commandos landed on a Normandy beach on D-Day and lived to see his bravado immortalized in the 1962 film “The Longest Day,” died on Wednesday in a hospital in the western England county of Devon. He was 88.(Links in original.)
Mr. Millin was a 21-year-old private in Britain’s First Special Service Brigade when his unit landed on the strip of coast the Allies code-named Sword Beach, near the French city of Caen at the eastern end of the invasion front chosen by the Allies for the landings on June 6, 1944.
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The young piper was approached shortly before the landings by the brigade’s commanding officer, Brig. Simon Fraser, who as the 15th Lord Lovat was the hereditary chief of the Clan Fraser and one of Scotland’s most celebrated aristocrats. 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.”
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After the war, he worked on Lord Lovat’s estate near Inverness, but found the life too quiet and took a job as a piper with a traveling theater company. In the late 1950s, he trained in Glasgow as a psychiatric nurse and eventually settled in Devon, retiring in 1988. He visited the United States several times, lecturing on his D-Day experiences.
In 1954 he married Margaret Mary Dowdel. A widower, he is survived by their son, John.
18 World War II (16 Army, 2 Marine Corps)
13 Korean War (8 Army, 2 Navy and 3 Marine Corps)
56 Vietnam War (35 Army, 6 Navy, 10 Marine Corps and 5 Air Force)
59 Army
8 Navy
15 Marine Corps
5 Air Force
David C. Dolby, a Medal of Honor recipient and a fixture at local veteran events in recent years, died Friday morning in Spirit Lake, Idaho. He was 64.
Dolby, who lived in Royersford, was in Idaho for a veterans' gathering, according to friends.
The announcement of his death was made by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. The cause was not announced.
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A Norristown native, Dolby was in a platoon of the 1st Cavalry Division during an attack as six of its members were killed instantly and others were wounded. In four hours of combat, he retrieved wounded men, stopped the enemy attack, reorganized his platoon and kept them covered during a counterattack. He was credited with saving the lives of many of his fellow soldiers while leaving himself continually in an exposed position, contributing to the overall success of the Army assault.
In all, Dolby served five tours in Vietnam.
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The Medal of Honor Society said there are 87 surviving Medal of Honor recipients.
I lift the cover off the plate and see ngapi, the dried and fermented shrimp paste we eat with every meal; rice; and a few chunks of chicken floating in a pale, weak curry. [Chiko, p 8]
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Sidewalk vendors are beginning to set up wares for the afternoon. The rickshaw veers to avoid children playing in the streets. These little ones should be inschool, but they don't have a choice. Schools have been closed so many times that nobody can learn much. [Chiko, p 25]
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"Home" in the camp is a bamboo hut on stilts. Looks a bit like our house in the village, but it's much smaller. ... I put my bamboo pole where it belongs, against the wall near my sleeping mat. Afternoon sunshine filters through the walls. Sand is piled in one corner of the room, and a pot of rice steams there on a small fire. [Tu Reh, p 195]
The First Heroes: New Tales of the Bronze Age - historical fiction (short stories), edited by Noreen Mary Doyle
Dreamwish Beasts and Snarks - SF (short stories), by Michael D Resnick
Isaac Asimov's Near Futures and Far - SF (short stories), edited by George Scithers