MILLIGAN, Robert Bruce
| Service Number: | 29635 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 2 August 1956 |
| Last Rank: | Captain |
| Last Unit: | 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR) |
| Born: | Taree, New South Wales, Australia , 16 July 1936 |
| Home Town: | Petersham, Marrickville, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Taree High School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Army Officer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, South Vietnam, 14 February 1967, aged 30 years |
| Cemetery: |
Macquarie Park Cemetery & Crematorium, North Ryde, New South Wales General Lawn - Row 17 - Grave 54 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Grafton Clarence Valley Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Kallangur Vietnam Veterans' Place, Officer Cadet School Portsea Memorial, Port Pirie Vietnam Veterans Honour Wall, Seymour Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk Roll of Honour, Taree High School Captain Robert B Milligan Memorial Plaque, Taree Honour Rolls |
Non Warlike Service
| 2 Aug 1956: | Enlisted Australian Army (Post WW2) |
|---|
Vietnam War Service
| 22 Apr 1966: | Involvement Australian Army (Post WW2), Captain, 29635, 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR) | |
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| 22 Apr 1966: | Involvement Australian Army (Post WW2), Captain, 29635, 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR) | |
| 22 Apr 1966: | Involvement Australian Army (Post WW2), Captain, 29635 |
Help us honour Robert Bruce Milligan's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Robert Kearney
Dux of his class at Officer Cadet School Portsea
Served with Pacific Islands Regiment, (PIR) Papua New Guinea as a Lieutenant.
Captain Bob Milligan was 2IC C Company 5RAR when killed in a mine incident at Xa An Nhut village Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam.
On 13 February 1967, during operation Operation Beaumaris,C Company together with B Company deployed to a jungle area south of An Nhut as a ruse to indicate that operations were to be conducted in the nearby Long Hai Hills. During the night of 13/14 February the two companies quietly moved into cordon positions on the south and western side of An Nhut village. At about 9.00 AM, the officer commanding C Company, Major Don Bourne held an orders group to coordinate activities for the search of the village. When the group dispersed, a mine was detonated which killed Major Bourne, the company 2IC Captain Bob Milligan and the artillery forward observer ,New Zealand Officer Captain Peter Williams.
Peter was a member of 161 Battery, Royal New Zealand Artillery and joined C Company at very short notice as the artillery forward observer. The usual forward observer had suffered an injury and could not participate in the operation.
Five other members of C Company were wounded-in-action.
There is a small memorial to Bob at the Taree High School New South Wales as well as at the Taree War Memorial
Click images to start slideshow.