Private Joseph Francis Milligan, 4th Australian Infantry Battalion
Australian War MemorialJoseph Milligan was born on 11 September 1886 at Euroka on the McLeay River in New South Wales. Known as Joe, he was the second youngest of 11 children born to Robert and Sarah Milligan.
The Milligan family remained living on the McLeay River throughout Joseph’s childhood. He attended Toorook Public School and briefly worked as a railway fettler before settling into life as a farmer at Hickeys Creek.
Joseph Milligan enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 16 September 1915. He was allotted to reinforcements of the 4th Infantry Battalion. After initial training in Australia, Private Milligan departed Sydney in the troopship Medicon 30 December 1915.
Milligan arrived in Egypt in early 1916, and joined the 4th Battalion in March. A week after being taken on strength, he embarked for France.
The battalion eased into life on the Western Front in northern France, where they trained and spent time in the trenches around Petillon and Fleurbaix.
The 4th Battalion’s first major action on the Western Front was at Pozieres in the Somme Valley in July 1916. Following the fighting at Pozieres, the battalion remained in the Somme Valley until the end of August, when it travelled north to Booseboom and the Ypres salient in Belgium.
During this time, Joe’s older brother Leslie enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He would serve with the 54th Battalion until he was returned to Australia in April 1918 suffering from trench fever.
Joseph and the 4th Battalion returned to the Somme in October, and spent a bitter winter alternating between training behind the lines and trench duties.
By late February, the battalion had moved into the trenches around the French village of Ligny-le-Barque, just south of Bapaume. Between late February and early March, the battalion repulsed several German raids on its positions, and undertook patrols of its own to capture German prisoners. By evening on 2 March, the battalion had sustained 33 casualties.
One of these casualties was Private Joseph Milligan, who had been wounded in action while in the trenches. Milligan died of his wounds on 2 March 1917.
He was 31 years old.
His remains were buried at Warlencourt British Cemetery in northern France. After the war, an Imperial War Graves headstone was erected over his grave, bearing the inscription selected by his grieving family: “He died for me”.
- AWM Roll of Honour https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1645152
- Virtual war memorial Australia https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/148448
