AN APPEAL has gone out for more donations to fund a commemorative statue to one of Dawlish's most famous residents.

Plans are well advanced for the statue to piper Bill Millin in France but organisers are facing a December deadline to find almost 10,000 Euros before the foundry in France can start with the casting.

The total cost of the project to erect the statue at Colleville-Montgomery, a town on Sword Beach of the D-Day landings, is 84,000 Euros of which just over 40,000 Euros has already been raised.

Speaking from his home in Nottinghamshire, Bill's son John told the Gazette: 'We are still about 10,000 Euros short to go ahead with the casting.

'The foundry in France has said it is happy to go ahead without the full amount but they need 50,000 Euros in the account first.

'It is a huge amount of money and we have been overwhelmed by the amount of support and emails.

'Mainly we have received personal donations but there have been some businesses too and they have come from all over the world.'

The D-Day Piper Bill Millin appeal was launched to create a lasting memorial in France to the man who played his pipes while under fire during the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944.

The statue, which has been designed by French sculptor Gaetan Ader, was approved by Bill before he died last year, and a model is on show at the D-Day museum at Pegasus Bridge.

A special website at http://www.ddaypiperbillmillin.com">www.ddaypiperbillmillin.com was set up to collect donations and everyone who has given money is listed there.

John explained: 'Dad would have been so pleased about it. I always knew he was popular and I appreciate this is a lot of money to raise.'

He thanked Dawlish Museum for their support for the project.

The museum is home to one set of Bill's pipes which he presented to them on the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

It also displays other items including his kilt and beret and has been selling copies of his book, proceeds from which go towards the statue appeal.

Meanwhile, John also revealed that the first piper has enrolled at a college in Arkansas in the United States under the Bill Millin Scholarship, established by the Currie Clan society in New York in Bill's memory.

Every year, the society will fund a college place to help young pipers.

Bill was the personal piper to the 15th Lord Lovat, commander of the 1 Special Service Brigade at D-Day.

Bill's Normandy bravery was immortalised in the 1962 film, The Longest Day. After the war, he made his home in Dawlish, working as a psychiatric nurse and died in August last year at the age of 88.

Anyone wanting to help the appeal by giving a donation can do so through the website http://www.piperbillmillin.com">www.piperbillmillin.com on the donation page. Alternatively, cheques made payable to the D-Day Piper Bill Millin Appeal can be sent to John at The Old Saddlery, Laneham Street, Rampton, Nottinghamshire, DN22 0JX.

l First published in the Dawlish Gazette on October 19.