Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

01/07/1915

Date of Discharge

23/02/1919

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

10/12/1894

Place of Birth

Prahran, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Wesley College, Melbourne (1908-12)

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

James and Mary Milford (parents), Inverness Avenue, Malvern, Victoria

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

2 Division Artillery AIF

Distinguished Service Order (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No.61, 23 May 1919)
Mentioned in Despatches (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No.61, 23 May 1919)

Milford entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 9 March 1913 and was graduated early on 28 June 1915. He left Australia as a Lieutenant with the 10th Battery in the 4th Field Artillery Brigade, eventually landing in France in March 1916. He served with several artillery batteries eventually being promoted to the rank of Major in September 1917 shortly after which he was wounded in the arm. Milford rejoined his battery by November 1917 and ended the war as Brigade Major in the 2nd Division Artillery. He was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his work in France and Flanders. He did not return to Australia immediately but his appointment was terminated in February 1919 so that he could attend a Staff course in England. He married Wynnie Gray on 13 November 1919 in England. Milford was appointed to a number of military posts upon returning to Australia and when World War 2 began he served as Master General of Ordnance, commanded the 5th Division during 1942, before being sent to Milne Bay in Papua and then Salamaua in New Guinea. In 1944 he commanded the 7th Division after George Vasey became seriously ill. On 8 September 1945 he accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in Borneo and the Netherlands East Indies. His son John graduated from RMC in 1944 and his grandson Michael in 1983.

Description - height 5 feet 6 inches, weight 134 pounds, chest 35 inches, Church of England.

AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
Australian Dictionary of Biography online
http://www.adb.anu.edu.au/biography/milford-edward-james-11121/text19803, published in hardcopy 2000, accessed online 8 March 2014
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
AWM Collections Record: A150426
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)