THE MILLAR STORY
MISSING IN ACTION - Go to this page in ITALIAN
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FLYING OFFICER THOMAS ROBERTS [BOB] MILLAR RAAF - 422612 AWARDS : 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; Defence Medal; War Medal 1939-45; Australia Service Medal 1939-45.Polish Home Army Medal 1939-1945; Warsaw Insurgents Cross 1944. COMMEMORATION : Panel 16, Col 1 of the Malta War Memorial for those of no known grave . Australian War Memorial Panel of Remembrance. |
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| Australian War Memorial Canberra | Malta Memorial Floriana |
AUSTRALIA
Bob was born in Narromine NSW and educated in Sydney becoming Dux
of his schools in 1932 and 1934. He graduated from Sydney
University in 1939 with a Bachelor of Economics degree and then
obtained an administrative position with the Sydney Gaslight
Company.
In January 1942 he married Elizabeth Grace Thompson before
enlisting in the RAAF on 22nd May of that year as a volunteer for
flying duties. Their daughter, Anne Elizabeth , was born on 3rd
February 1943
His initial training was at Bradfield Park, Cootamundra, Sale,
Nhill, and in due course he was commissioned on 4 February 1943.
One month later on the 6th March he embarked at Melbourne and
sailed to San Francisco, through USA by train to a transit camp
in Massachusetts then to Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia,Canada.On
9th April he embarked on the troopship "Pasteur" which
was unescorted on its voyage to England. He arrived at 3
Personnel Reception Centre, Bournemouth, England on 18th April.
BRITAIN
In England he undertook further training commencing at 4 Air
Observer School, West Freugh, Wigtownshire, Scotland (the unit
changed its name on 11.6.03 to 4 (Observers) Advanced Flying
Unit). Afterwards he proceeded to Upper Heyford, Swinderby and
Moreton-in Marsh in England.
In May he spent some time with the PEDDER family of Kenilworth
whilst on 'local' leave. The family kept in touch with the
Millars including sending Christmas cards with a picture of their
house. Nearly 60 years later Bob's daughter Anne was able to
identify and visit the house using this picture. Subsequently
Anne spoke with the two daughters & son of the family &
visited one of the daughters.
ITALY
In January 1944 Bob was transferred to Italy joining 205 Group
104 Squadron RAF until July 1944, taking a Leading Bombaimer
course during part of June /July 1944. He was stationed at Foggia
Main air base ,west of Bari and took part in sorties to Italy,
Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary and Roumania.
In August he was seconded as Leading Squadron Bombaimer to 31
Squadron, South African Air Force and stationed at Celone air
base ,Foggia. Here he ran a Book Club with a fellow Australian.
Very soon he was flying to Warsaw dropping supplies to
beleaguered partisans who had risen against the German occupation
forces. Supposedly Russian armies were approaching Warsaw to
relieve the city but they held back at this point leaving the
Polish citizens to fend for themselves.
The Warsaw operation was dangerous. Flying time to Warsaw was 5
hours and on arrival aircraft were obliged to fly at a height of
not more than 500 feet and sometimes as low as 100 feet taking
care to avoid high buildings. According to Neil Orpen's 'Airlift
to Warsaw', published by W.Foulsham & Co., and where there
are references to Bob on pages 74 and 77, there were 186 sorties
from Italy to Warsaw in a six week period and 31 aircraft were
lost. Hence Bob was fortunate to survive these trips. The skill
of the experienced crew no doubt helped the survival. See a Sortie Report.
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Liberator Bomber |
Bob Millar |
Wellington Bomber |
THE LAST MISSION
On 12 October 1944 16 Liberators of 31 Squadron and 4 of 34
Squadron SAAF took off on a supply dropping mission to Italian
partisans in the mountains of northern Italy. There were 4
different drop zones with five planes allotted to each site. Each
plane had 8 crew. They took off in late afternoon knowing that
they would be flying in the night as they approached the north.
Bob was aboard 31 SAAF Liberator KH158 piloted by Major Urry,
SAAF - drop zone [DZ] "Morris" ENE of Genoa.
**See photos of villages in the DZ
area
The crew was truly representing the Commonwealth being composed
of 5 SAAF, 2 RAF & 1 RAAF as follows:.
Major S.S. Urry SAAF, age 29 born South Africa,
1st Pilot
Lt G.A. Collard SAAF, age 19 born South Africa, Navigator
2 Lt P.J.Lordan SAAF, born South Africa, Air Gunner
WO 1 L.B. Bloch SAAF, born South Africa, Air Gunner
Lt N.W. Armstrong SAAF, born South Africa, Air Gunner
F/O G.E. Hudspith RAF, age 29 born England, 2nd Pilot
Sgt R.C. Fitzgerald RAF, age 19 born England, Sgt Air Gunner
F/O T R Millar RAAF, age 28 born Australia, Observer/Bombaimer
**See supply drop & Partisan story
The weather was bad with poor visibility and few crews were able to see the drop site fires so many drops were aborted. Of the 20 planes that set out 6 failed to return. Four crashed high in the mountains, one crashed near Cantalupa but the sixth disappeared without trace. The wreckages of the crashed planes were eventually found but there was no news of the sixth Liberator. The crew members of the sixth Liberator, KH158, with Bob among the crew members, were officially posted missing - a sad ending for brave men. The disappearance of KH158 has yet to be solved.
His RAAF training friend, Sam M, has written--
"In late April 1944 Bob came to visit me in hospital in
Naples .The Allied landing at Anzio was supported by the 205
group .We crashed at Foggia returning from this operation , lost
our pilot & rear gunner & ended my flying. Bob apparently
noticed my name on the list of casualties & hence the visit
.Bob was a very dear friend & I admired him greatly & was
deeply sad when I learnt he was missing "
**See weather chart written in 2008 for The Millar Story.
The citizens of the Italian towns have been most
appreciative of the heroic actions of those lost in this
operation and a commemorative service was held in Bra ,northern
Italy on 25th April 2001. This was attended by the citizens and
ex-partisans of Bra and relatives of the crews. The Mayor
welcomed and offered hospitality to the relatives and, at a
dinner held in the evening, Anne Storm was asked to read the
letter her father had written her on her first birthday.
BOB's LETTER
1/2/44 F/O T.R.MILLAR RAAF Aus 422612 - 104 Squadron RAF CMF
Italy
My Dear Daughter,
This is the first time I have written to you and although you are
as yet too young to read it perhaps mother will save it up until
the time comes when you can read it yourself. In 2 days time it
will be your first birthday anniversary-a great event for your
parents. My regret is that I cannot personally be there to help
you blow out your single candle but believe me lassie I will be
there in spirit.
I am writing this from a place called Italy which is far away
from our fair land-a place where I would not be by choice so far
away separated from a wife & daughter so dear to me. But I am
here ,precious one , because there is a war on caused by certain
people who wished to rule the world harshly & despotically,
imperilling an intangible thing called democracy which your
mother & I thought all decent people should fight for. You
will understand as you grow up what democracy means for us &
how it is an ideal way of life which we aspire to put into
practice.
All I ask of you, Anne dear is that you stay as sweet as your
mother & cling tight to the subtle thing we call
Christianity, which has been the core of her way of life &
her mother's & mine. I hope that you will love & respect
me as I love & respect my father.
That's all young lady. Have a happy birthday -may they all be
happy birthdays. I hope to be home again one fine day. In the
meantime lots of love to you & to mother
From Dad
Bob Millar
Since attending the Bra commemorative service Anne Storm has been
researching the disappearance of KH158 and continues to welcome
those contributions from ex-service personnel who have had
knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the event. Meanwhile
she is pleased to have found and spoken to relatives of all the
crew members.
At a commemmorative event held at Pretoria in 2003, James Storm, Bob's grandson laid a wreath. On 26th September 2004 there was a formal 60th Anniversary Commemoration also at PRETORIA. By now the interested parties had formed themselves into the ALPINE 44 CLUB.
A further event took place in Lysa Gora Poland, in 2007 which commemorated the loss of a 31 Squadron SAAF aircraft participating in the Warsaw airlift.
The story of Bob Millar has inspired authors
.........
Robert Ryan, to write the novel After Midnight published
by Headline Book Publishing.
Davide Pinardi has written a chapter
in his book Il Partigiano E
L'Aviatore published by Odradek
Malcolm Tudor has written a chapter
entitled The SAAF Liberators in his book Special
Force published by Emilia
Publishing and a chapter about the Lake Bolsena search in his
next book At War in Italy published in 2007.
View The Times article of 3.12.05 and the discovery of a large aircraft in Lake Bolsena, Italy. It may or may not be KH158. Read an account of the subsequent search in Lake Bolsena
An account of Anne's SEARCH for her father may be found HERE .
Other airforce research connections may be found in the Italy and Beyond page..
| Liberator KG 875 of 31 Squadron SAAF | ||
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The print was presented by Rob Woods whose uncle,
Sgt. H.J. Woods RAF, was the Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
of KG 875 which crashed at Valprato Soana on 12th/13th
October 1944. This aircraft was one of the planes which crashed in the mountains (wreckage found) during the mission in which TRM's aircraft (KH158) disappeared. |
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| Copy of Limited Edition Print of Artwork created by
Keith Mallen website: www.graphite22.co.uk email: keithmallen@graphite22.co.uk home: 89, Marsden Road. South Shields. Tyne & Wear. NE34 6DG |
The story would not be complete if we were not to mention that
Bob's wife married again - to "Bill" Cort in 1951.
THE CORT PEDIGREE may be found at:
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~vswcort
,
some Cort photos here,
and Bill's
descent here.
The CORT PEDIGREE includes contributions on CORT from Steve
Pedley, Barbara Preece, Donald Hurd, Michael Cort and Barbara
Ellen, and on SINCLAIR from Robbie Bain, Steven Kerr and Karin
Proudfoot.
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