He is the son that Balibo Five victim Gary Cunningham never knew existed.
John Milkins was just five when his father was killed with four other Australia-based journalists at the start of an invasion that led to Indonesia's long and bloody occupation of East Timor.
And it would be another 15 years before the TV cameraman's only child - adopted when he was six weeks old - discovered just who his real dad was, and the notorious circumstances in which he died.
Any connection may be limited to grainy film footage and family anecdotes, but today John Milkins has become a tireless campaigner in the effort to find out exactly what happened to the five newsmen that fateful morning on October 16, 1975.
For decades the men's families dismissed the official version spouted by successive Australian and Indonesian governments; that their loved ones were caught in the crossfire of a heated battle.
In recent weeks evidence has emerged supporting the far more disturbing scenario of Indonesian troops tracking down and murdering the journalists in cold blood.
The unlikely venue for these revelations has been a coroner's court in Sydney, and earlier this month Mr Milkins took time away from his job near Melbourne to watch former prime minister Gough Whitlam take the stand.