Bob was born on the 16th November 1917 in Marylebone, London. He enlisted into the Rifle Brigade on 16th January 1936, having been in the TA since 20th November 1934.

In 1937 he was posted to india  and in 1939 to Palestine. During his service in the Western Desert he was wounded and this resulted in loss of his left leg below the knee. was then sent home to a hospital in Scotland and was finally discharged on 30th November 1941.

His length of service was 5 years 319 days.

Copy from the London Gazette 1941

Rifleman R C Gillan  The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consorts Own)

Rifleman Gillan was wireless operator of a command carrier advancing towards the defences of an important enemy position under heavy artillery, anti-tank and machine gun fire. When the carrier was 600 yards from the wire he was wounded by an anti-tank shell in both legs, one of which had subsequently to be amputated, but he continued to receive and send messages for half an hour. When loss of blood made him too weak to carry on with his duties as wireless operator he continued to instruct the other occupants of the carrier how to munipulate the set. His courage and devotion to duty,whilst he was in great pain, enabled his patrol commander to keep in touch with company headquarters throughout the operation.

For his action on that day Rfn R.C. Gillan was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.