‘The Medusa Trust’ website states that Lt MacMillan gained the MID for his courage during the evacuation of Sungei Punngor in 1942.Colin Edward Macmillan served in both World War One and the Second World War. He was born in Thames, New Zealand on 20 January 1899 to Robert and Mabel (nee Hart) Macmillan and had three siblings. As a small boy he lived on Beach Road, Katikati and attended No. 2 School, Beach Road, Katikati but his father died when he was 13 years old and Colin and his 15-year-old brother attempted to run the family farm with their mother whilst attending school - this proved impossible. The family returned to Thames and Colin attended Thames High School from 1913 to September 1915. Colin enlisted in Wellington, NZ on 21 January 1918 and embarked as a Gunner with the 43rd Reinforcements on the ‘Matatua’ for London on 2 October 1918 but it was soon noted he was underage and suffered from ‘claw foot’, so in April 1919 he was discharged as no longer physically fit for war service. He returned to Wellington, NZ., and worked for the Ministry of Health. He played rugby in that city and had a passion for the sea and boats, apparently owning his own yacht in Wellington at that time – he was also a member of (possibly Secretary) of the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club in Wellington at that time. When World War Two was declared, Colin applied to Admiralty House in London and was then assigned to training at the RN shore base in Singapore, ‘HMS Sultan’, as a Probationary Temporary Sub- Lieutenant attached to an ex- Yangste River gunboat, ‘HMS Grasshopper’. On 14 May 1941 Colin was promoted to Temporary Lieutenant serving in ‘HMS Grasshopper’ until 2 September 1941 and appears to have taken command of HDML 1062 as early as October 1941. Letters home during this period talk of his move and his regret at leaving his ‘ship’ (probably HMS Grasshopper’) and his move to command “… a small patrol launch…” plus comments that “ … of course life is most interesting, but some of our patrols are a little boring …, but other times we do some really interesting work …”. In December 1941 Colin and his launch were assigned to Special Operations on the west coast of Malaya and this is when he earned award of ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ (posthumously awarded). The 22.4.42 issue of the ‘Bay of Plenty Times” carried the only newspaper record in New Zealand of his fate – it simply said that he had been reported ‘Missing’ and “... is the son of the late Mr R.J. Macmillan and that his next of kin is his sister, Miss Vera MacMillan who is living in Sydney. The last word that his relatives in Tauranga received was that Lieut. Macmillan was in command of a small naval vessel at Singapore …”. In a letter to Colin’s sister Vera, dated 15 August 1946, Lieutenant – Commander Victor Cecil Froggatt Clark, RN wrote “… he served in ML1062 under my orders from some time during Dec 41 and Jan 42 and I came to know him well and liked him very much. In fact, I can say there was no ML. I liked being around so much. I was a POW from March 42 – last Sept and it was then I learned of his ML being sank and I was very sad to hear it … once again can I say how very sorry I am that your brother did not come through, but you may be proud of his always cheerful contribution to the cause in the blackest of days …” [Michael Pether. New Zealanders who died in Second World War-in the region of Singapore, Malaya, Dutch East Indies, and Burma/Thailand]
