God bless Bill Millin...

There's a scene in the film The Longest Day that depicts a bagpiper playing his pipes as the commando unit he was part of advanced inland from the Normandy beaches. The scene was not the product of some screenwriter's dazed mind, but a recreation of what actually happened.

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That piper's name was Bill Millin, who died Wednesday at the age of 88. Notes one commenter on one of the many videos devoted to his actions on D-Day:

His courage was beyond the call of duty. My old Uncle Reggie was on the beach and he always said the mad bugger gave them the jolt they needed to go forward.

Millin said that later, he found out the Germans who had been manning the guns above the beach didn't shoot him "because they thought I was crazy."

Sometimes, I think we need more of that kind of crazy in the world.

Cheers...