WW2 Normandy Fallen - Distinguished Service Cross hero John Milligan, 30th Infantry Division

Captain John Milligan earned the Distinguished Service Cross while serving in the 197th Field Artillery Battalion.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39814372/john-s_-milligan
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/538672805402419212/ 

John S. Milligan, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WW2 fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War 2 fallen in one free-to-access central database.  Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

John was born on April 11, 1920 in Florida. His parents John and Eirene were both born in Ohio. His father worked as a banker and later as an auditing clerk. John had one younger sister. By 1940 he found housing as a lodger while he attended University of Florida in Gainesville where he participated in ROTC.

He enlisted in the army in June 1942. He was commissioned a second lieutenant four months later. He rose to the rank of captain in Battery B, 197th Field Artillery Battalion. The 197th FAB was attached to the 30th Infantry Division. It was equipped with 105mm howitzers.

The 30th ID landed on Omaha Beach five days after D-Day. By the second week of July it was advancing on the important objective of St. Lo. It withstood attacks by enemy armored units. By July 11 it was back on the offensive, taking the village of Hauts-Vents. The gains came at high costs with 367 casualties in just this one day.

On July 12, 1944 the 30th ID was sent back to the hedgerows. The enemy had good observation posts for their tanks and artillery which the Germans had gathered in abundance. It was another day for hundreds of casualties. Some units were all but wiped out. Captain Milligan was one of those killed that day.

Captain Milligan was posthumously award the Distinguished Service Cross for action against enemy forces on July 12, 1944. I was not able to find details of what he did.

His grave is at Daytona Memorial Park in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Thank you Captain Milligan for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for John.

Last year on this date I profiled Pearl Harbor fallen Laddie Zacek, USS Pennsylvania / USS Tracy. You can read about Laddie here.

On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!

I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org