Ladies & Gentlemen;

You will be sorry to hear that General Giles Mills died on Monday 12^th September.

Please find below a short career synopsis. A Thanksgiving Service has been arranged for 2.30pm Friday 4th November, at St Pauls Church, Bisterne, Hampshire BH24 3BN, with tea afterwards at Bisterne Manor ½ mile away.

Major General Giles Hallam Mills CB CVO OBE

Obituary

MAJOR-GENERAL GILES MILLS CB, CVO, OBE

The Kings Royal Rifle Corps and The Royal Green Jackets

Giles Hallam Mills was born in Hampshire on 1 April 1922, the second son of Colonel Sir John Mills and Lady Mills (née Tuck), herself born in America. He was later, in 1947, to marry his cousin Emily, the daughter of Captain William Hallam Tuck from Maryland. He and Emily therefore shared a great-grandfather who had been Military Secretary to the Confederate General Robert E. Lee during the American Civil War.

Educated at Eton, Giles entered the Army intending to enlist, unsurprisingly in view of the American connection, in The King's Royal Rifle Corps. After commissioning on 13 September 1941, he joined 1 KRRC in North Africa in 1943 and served with the Battalion in the long slog up Italy in 1944-45, during which 1 KRRC saw some intense actions, including seven months facing the Germans on the Gothic Line.

Giles was in the thick of these prolonged, at times fierce and varied actions. In the early months he was a platoon commander when his skill at night-patrolling became legendary and where his own survival, unlike so many others, he personally attributed to the Grace of God, supplemented by a countryman's canniness and a keen eye for country and cover. As the campaign wore on, he became intelligence officer and then a youthful Captain and Adjutant. He remained Adjutant until well after the end of hostilities, being mentioned in dispatches. He also found time, particularly when the Battalion returned to Italy from Austria, to pursue his historical and academic interests among the ruins of Italy and to get to know the Italian people better.

In 1943 Giles had converted to a Regular commission and in 1951 attended the Staff College, Camberley, before returning to 1 KRRC, now in Germany, where he was a much respected company commander. In 1959 he was especially pleased to be sent to the US Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Virginia, where he earned the nickname `Boss of Togetherness' for his swift mastery of staff problems, their coherent presentation to fellow American students, and the warm friendships he made. In 1961 he was promoted and appointed Military Assistant to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Sir Richard Hull, who, himself an exceptionally able staff officer and dismissive of dissembling politicians, required an MA as principled as he was.

In March 1963 Giles assumed command of 2nd Green Jackets (KRRC) just before the Battalion flew to British Guiana where strikes and threats of violence arising from local political, social and economic conflict were delaying the granting of independence. He commanded with firmness and yet with kindness, inspiring great confidence in his officers and riflemen. In the tropical environment of Guiana with its rare and varied species of bird life, Giles was able to indulge his passion for ornithology, an interest which earned him the widely-used nickname of `Birdman Mills'. In 1964 he was appointed OBE for his leadership in command.

After attending the Administrative Staff College, Henley (now the Henley Business School) in 1965, he became the first Regimental Colonel of The Royal Green Jackets on its formation in 1966 and was one of the architects of its subsequent success. In 1968 he assumed command of 8th Infantry Brigade, based in Chester.

In 1970 Giles attended the Imperial Defence College, during which time he and Roger Nixon completed authorship of Volume VI of the KRRC Annals. To his delight, he was then appointed Military Attaché and Commander of the British Army Staff in Washington which gave him the opportunity to study Civil War battlefields and make contact with the American side of the family.  In 1974 he was promoted Major-General and became Director of Manning (Army) in the MOD at a time when units recently reduced in size for reasons of economy had to be raised to full establishment to meet the security crisis in Northern Ireland. Giles was able to moderate these difficulties to the extent that units sent to Northern Ireland were never below strength. He completed his military service on this note of success and was appointed CB on his retirement on 20 May 1977.

Initially Giles returned to a life of country pursuits and completion of the final volume of the KRRC Annals, Volume VII, published in 1979. In the same year he was invited to become Resident Governor and Keeper of the Jewel House at the Tower of London, a role he performed with enthusiasm and knowledgeable efficiency until 1984. He was appointed CVO by The Queen that year.

On leaving London, Giles returned to his home at Twyford and assumed with vigour the onerous task of creating the RGJ Museum at Winchester, which The Queen opened on 1 December 1989. He was a founding Trustee and Chairman until 1991. His final retirement was saddened by the illness of his wife, Emily, whom he looked after with much devotion. She died in 2005 after which he moved to the family estate at Bisterne, near Ringwood.

Giles was a man of many parts and a devoted family man. He was a true countryman, an ornithologist and a notable historian, helped by a remarkable memory of people and events, and an intellect and lucidity of expression, quietly spoken, which would have suited him well for academic life. He was a very competent linguist and for relaxation loved music.

Giles was a thoroughly professional soldier, courageous and steady, highly-principled with strong Christian values, efficient and effective, and always determined to see that everything for which he was responsible was done in a thoroughly Rifleman-like way. Widely recognised as the guardian of the heritage of his original Regiment, he has left a formidable legacy of scholarship for The Rifles to inherit.

He died on 12 September 2011, aged 89, leaving two sons and a daughter. A Thanksgiving Service took place at St. Pauls Church, Bisterne, on 4 November.  

Dwin Bramall