While employed by the Federal Aviation Administration, Milligan observed the need of polio patients for transportation to hospitals where they could obtain adequate medical care. In 1949, he founded Mercy Flights, Inc. in Medford, the first non-profit air ambulance service. He served as Mercy Flights’ board chair, chief pilot and spokesperson, flying more than 11,000 patients in southern Oregon and northern California before his death while transporting a patient in Medford in 1985. Milligan’s award is posthumous.

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