Famous for playing the bagpipes at the D-Day landing on Sword Beach, Normandy, Bill Millin's exploits as a piper are well-known.

As personal piper to Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, commander of 1 Special Service Brigade on D-Day, Millin was ordered to play as his comrades landed on the beach.

Incredibly, the then 21-year-old survived the landings with nothing but the sgian-dubh, or "black knife", sheathed inside his kilt-hose on the right side.

The kilt was his father's Cameron tartan, worn in Flanders in the First World War, and he was the only man during the landing to wear one.

Millin stated that he later talked to captured German snipers who claimed they did not shoot at him because they thought he had gone mad.

Lord Lovat and Millin then advanced to Pegasus Bridge, where again the bagpipes were played as the commandos marched across the bridge.

His actions on D-Day were portrayed in the 1962 war epic, The Longest Day, an American film starring John Wayne amongst other big names.

His original bagpipes, kilt, bonnet and dirk are now preserved in Dawlish Museum, close to his home, and he passed away in Torbay Hospital in August 2010 at the age of 88.