His nephew, Kevin's son Stephen Pirrie, played with Richmond, St Kilda and Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL), and with Port Melbourne in the VFA.
He was assigned initially to Royal Navy shore establishment, HMS Quebec,[5] which was a part of the British Combined Operations Training Centre, on the banks of Loch Fyne, Scotland.
By mid-1944, Pirrie had been posted to a shore establishment on the River Hamble, Hampshire, HMS Cricket,[4] where a component of the expeditionary force for the Allied invasion of North West Europe was being assembled.
On D-Day (6 June), he was attached to the crew of a British LSI HMS Invicta,[6] which landed part of the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade at "Juno Beach", near Courseulles-sur-Mer.
[8][9][6][10] He was mentioned in dispatches (MiD):[11] "For gallantry, skill and determination and undaunted devotion to duty during the initial landing of Allied Forces on the coast of Normandy".