Honoring Our Heroes

Korean War Veteran: Sergeant John Robert Miller: Age 91

Sergeant John Robert Miller served three years in the U.S. Army including combat in the Korean War. His Military Occupational Specialty was Supply Sergeant. He received the following medals, awards, citations and badges: Korean Service Medal with three Battle Stars, U.N. Badge and Army Infantry Badge. He was recommended for the Bronze Star for Valor.

Sergeant Miller was born December 18, 1932 to his parents, at Waynesboro, PA, where he lived for 17 years until he graduated from Quincy High School in 1950. He then volunteered and enlisted in the U.S. Army beginning military service June 6,1950. He completed 16 weeks of Basic Training at Ft. Knox, KY, and then he volunteered to serve in combat in Korea. He

traveled via train from Chicago to Oakland, CA, to Camp Stoneman, a United States Army facility located in Pittsburg, California. It served as a major troop staging area for and under the command of the San Francisco Port of

Embarkation. The Camp operated during World War II and the Korean War near Travis Air Force Base, CA. From there, he flew to Tokyo, Japan, and then to Camp Chickamauga, Japan, spending a few weeks in the mountains. He then sailed to Wonsan, a port city and naval base, located in the Kangwon Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula on the Sea of Japan. He landed onshore there in the Landing Ship Tanks (LST.) He then served as a guard on a trailer carrying his commander traveling to Hamhung, the 2nd most populous city, the commercial and local administrative center of northeastern Korea.

His unit participated in assisting and driving via trucks the Marines at the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, a campaign early in the Korean War, part of the Chinese Second Offensive (November–December 1950) to drive the United Nations out of North Korea. The Chosin Reservoir campaign was directed mainly against the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. X Corps which had disembarked in eastern North Korea and moved inland in severe winter weather to a mountainous area near the reservoir. The campaign succeeded in forcing the entire X Corps to evacuate to South Korea, but the Chinese did not achieve their particular

objective of isolating and destroying the 1st Marine Division. Instead, in a deliberate retrograde movement that has become one of the most-storied exploits in Marine Corps lore, the Marines turned and fought their way down a narrow vulnerable road through several mountain passes and a bridged chasm until they reached transport ships waiting at the coast. His Army unit and the Marines fought their way back to the sea. They were loaded onto ships departing Korea. Sergeant Miller suffered an injury to his arm while throwing grenades and was hospitalized in Osaka, Japan. After serving in Korea during November 1950 through July 1951, he then returned to the U.S.A. where he served as a Supply Sergeant at Ft. Jackson, S.C., for 1.5 months and at Ft. Rucker, AL, where he was then discharged June 5, 1953.

After his military service, Sergeant Miller's civilian employment

included working for two years at Fairchild Aircraft Company, MD, as a flight test engineer technician reading instruments to plot graphs after flights. He then worked with a section gang with the Atlantic Railroad for 10 months in AL. He returned to employment with Fairchild for four years working with quality control testing equipment. He returned to AL and worked with Southern

Railway in Montgomery with a track team and switching cars for five years. His final employment was with the U.S. Postal Service first as a letter carrier during 1966-1978 for 19 years and then as a supervisor and manager during 1978-1992. He became the temporary area manager retiring in 1992 at age 59. He then returned to employment with the Postal Service working until 1998.

Sergeant Miller and his wife, Dorothy Jean, were married 68 years until she passed away, and they had two children. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge in Montgomery, AL, and has served as a Past Master. He is a member of the Redland Baptist Church in Elmore County, AL, and the Korean War Veterans Association and is past Commander of Chapter 263. He designed a Korean War marker which was placed on the grounds of the Elmore County Courthouse in Wetumpka, AL. He has written 115 types of poetry on patriotic, Christian and humorous, themes etc.

Sergeant Miller's conclusions about his military service are: "It was an honor to serve the whole time. I was not a hero. I just did my job the best that I could. I think that I did it well."

Sergent Miller would like to be remembered as a good husband and father. He says, "I was 17 when I entered military service and went to Korea, and I turned 18 while I was there."