Lieutenant-Colonel C.G. Millett
2nd Battalion, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry

Recce party with the C.O. and his bodyguard left to recce the area of previous nights incidents. Explosions heard and report received that the Commanding Officer Lt. Col. C.G. Millett, O.B.E., his bodyguard and two other ranks had been killed in a minefield. The party had approached the body of a dead German and were examining the corpse when the explosion occurred.

(War Diary, 20 Dec 1944)

Born on 8 April 1903 in Reading, Berkshire, Cecil George Millett was a commissioned officer with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry since 1923. He was 2nd Battalion adjutant from 1931 to 1934 and was promoted to captain in 1933. By 1942, he was acting lieutenant-colonel and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire as part of the King’s Birthday Honours.

One month after D-Day, the 2nd Battalion, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry in the 3rd Division lost its commanding officer. Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Maurice was killed by enemy shell fire on 7 July 1944. Before the end of the month, Millett was appointed to be his replacement. He led the battalion through the end of the Normandy campaign and into the liberation of the Low Countries. 

On 20 December 1944, Millett came upon a dead German while lead a small reconnaissance party. When the CO ordered a sergeant to inspect the body, a booby trap mine exploded, killing Millett and two soldiers and severely wounding several others. Another soldier in the battalion wrote of the incident, “One must obey orders, unfortunately because it was really a foolish order … A sad day for the battalion.”

Major Pat Daly of 1st Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment transferred to take over the 2nd King’s Shropshire Light Infantry