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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJohn H. Miller, Korea The Forgotten War anc ..:,::;E:I:::::: 46:: ':..: :„.. 4. .,:.0.:.::::. „::::.:,01,„:„.:....,.::::.,:s .::.::.:::.:::,::: ' 1:: .....:„.:,::::... :::::;:::.::..,...... :,:„.: ,...,,,:,::. u:::ti„,::0,.,..i:::: kivviormtpu.k.:Lva, y ememberin F Wa , i 1s 'S qt t 'inter' ems° * r °4?f !lh bigot n 1'rr 0d cur Gaunt iltitjiialtii JCare t War N Q $ y , A s. 3 4 � c ` ,,,,,..,..:::i., .:::::::.:: mgme:04.:.:0 „,.. .. ?...- ig ,,,,...„ . 1111, ,,. : _ _ ,' John H. Mil ler .;. By Bill Youngkin personally. When WWII ended, I was sent to Japan as part of Special to The Eagle the occupation where I remained until I was sent home for discharge in 1946," Part One "I returned to A &M that fall and changed my major When retired Lt. General John H. Miller, USMC, was to electrical engineering because of my experience in the W contacted a year or ago about sharing h e memories a of Marines. I knew then that I wasn't going to return to the farm. I WWII, he stated that his primary combat experiences occurred not in th graduated n the in Corps but and did enroll Virginia while in s p was ro I i during Korea. But, you can't tell just part of any veteran's story, e sum er I am a in l tithe Marine PLC program. I attended sum especially someone like General Miller. summer camp in Quantico, Virginia and upon graduation, the Marine Corps offered me a commission as a Life for John Miller began on April 16,1925 in San Angelo. 2nd Lieutenant. It paid about the same as a junior engineer at At about age five his family moved to a farm east of Waco in the the time, so I took the commission. Axtell Community. His mother died after his sixth birthday and "I completed my officer basic course in May of 1950. In his father died shortly thereafter. He was taken in and raised by June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. I was ordered an aunt and uncle on their farm in Axtell, immediately to the 1st Marine Division being assembled at He attended Axtell Consolidated Elementary and High Camp Pendleton, California. Virginia was now five months School, graduating in 1942 in a class of thirteen classmates. pregnant with our first child. One classmate was a girl named Virginia who would eventually "At Pendleton, I was part of'I' Company 3rd Battalion, become his wife of over 63 years. They have literally, spent 1st Marine Regiment. The commander of our Regiment was their lifetimes together. a WWII icon named General 'Chesty' Puller. Our company had According to Miller, "Shortly before I graduated, my two 1st Lieutenants and five 2nd Lieutenants, all just out of grandfather's estate was settled and I received my mother's our basic program. I was to be in charge of our machine gun portion of his estate. That allowed me to immediately enroll section. The one thing that gave us confidence is that our CO at A &M in June of 1942. I was in A Company Infantry and was a fellow who had received a battlefield commission at some of my upperclassmen were 'Boots'Simmons and Barney Iwo Jima. He was a guy that knew what he was doing and one Welch whose WWII stories have been the subject of previous who loved a good fight. articles. "We headed to Japan, where we trained briefly and "While in school, the US Navy had occupied some of the then to Korea. On September 15, 1950, we landed at Inchon, dorms for its members it was educating at the Navy radio South Korea, where we came ashore. The resistance at Inchon school being conducted on campus. Some of those residing was fairly sporadic where we were. We were able to move to in the dorms were Marines. They seemed to be really sharp our objective Yong Dong Po, which was across the river from guys and they looked good in their uniforms. I was seventeen Seoul. when I entered A &M and I couldn't' volunteer because both "In Seoul, the fighting was heavy. By the second night, we my parents were deceased and I had no one to sign for me. had made it to a hill near the center of Seoul, which is where After I turned eighteen, I became subject to the draft and 1 Seoul University is now located. That night the North Koreans volunteered for the Marine Corps. I entered active duty in May launched an all -out attack. We held and virtually wiped them of 1943 after three semesters at A &M. out, but during the attack, fragments from a North Korean "I was sent to boot camp at San Diego. It was a snap grenade hit me. One piece cut into my face and my cheek bled for me because of my A &M experience. Upon completion of a lot but it wasn't a serious wound. It was just enough of a boot camp, we received our orders. We were assembled in wound for me to qualify for my first Purple Heart" formation and were told our next assignment. I had excelled Miller would receive two more Purple Hearts before being in boot camp and 1 was really motivated. I assumed I would be sent home. He would also become a survivor and member of in the infantry. They called my name and said radar school. 1 what would be called, The Frozen Chosin." thought they may have said 'raider' school, which was what I For more information, to make a contribution to the wanted. I asked after the formation and was clearly informed Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial, or if you know a WWII or by my gunnery sergeant it was to be radar school.1 remember Korea War Veteran whose story needs to be told, contact being deeply disappointed. y the BVVM at www.veteransmemorial.org or Bill Youngkin at "I was sent to several schools, eventually ending at (979) 776-1325. Cherry Point, North Carolina where I was assigned to be a A ceremony honoring the 60th Anniversary of the member of an aviation unit. We were shipped over to the Korean War will be held June 25, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. at Pacific on Christmas Day, 1944 to the Marshall Islands. Our air the Veterans Memorial. The ceremony willcommemorate group participated in the invasion of Okinawa after we took two statues to be sculpted and installed at a later date of an airfield on Okinawa. We moved onto the airfield and began a Korean and an American soldier from the Korean War our aerial operations until Okinawa was secured. Period. The memorial is possible because of significant "Our airfield was shelled by Japanese artillery and donations byappreciative Korean individuals. All citizens mortars occasionally, and we were subject to Kamakazi attack are invited to attend but a special invitation is extended by Japanese planes once, but nothing too exciting for me to all Korean Veterans and their families. z . ' . ' . : R . t . da i ° John H. Miller — wok ...,: N By Bill Youngkin ' I was on the radio calling in aviation support when I was Special to The Eagle shot in the shoulder. I was sent back down the hill for Part Two • treatment. After I was treated I had my arm in a sling, but had no place to go except back to my unit. They placed me in the Command Post (CP) and the XO of my company took When the 2nd Lieutenant John H. Miller and his 1st •my place in the OP. That night, an artillery round hit the Marine Division took Seoul from the North Koreans he was OP and my replacement, our XO, was killed. The Good Lord wounded. The wound would not be significant enough to looks out for you sometimes. be sent home but, he would be awarded the Purple Heart. He continued with his duties with his unit and those duties "Two regiments on the west side of Chosin managed would carry him and his unit deep into North Korea near to pull back to us. Our wounded were being evacuated the Manchurian border to Chosin Reservoir. A place that by two engine and sometimes four engine planes. I still will be forever remembered as "The Frozen Chosin." It don't know how they were able to land and take off, but would be a desperate time for the U.S. forces as they were they did. The whole division now proceeded south as best almost overran by the Chinese army and the fighting was we could. in the worst weather conditions imaginable. "We had left our 2nd Battalion behind and below us As recalled by Miller, "After we had Seoul secured, an and they were able to clear the roads for us but we had to army division passed through our lines and we, the 1st go from hill to hill on each side of the road. The Chinese Division Marines, were sent to Inchon where we boarded dropped the bridge located at the power plant leaving ship. We would be sailing to the worst military mistake we no way out for our vehicles, except by that road. A Bailey made during my career. Bridge was dropped by air and the engineers set it up. We We were to land at Wonson but we couldn't go finally made it over the river and to Hamhung, a relatively ashore until the navy cleared the mines from the harbor. sh place. I was finally able to rest and I had my first sho When we finally landed, we were sent to a crossroad in an wer in over six weeks. attempt to block the retreating North Korean army. We "We boarded a ship to Pusan where our division started encountering a lot of enemy activity, particularly trained and re- grouped. I was now a rifle platoon leader enemy patrols. This was around the 1st of November of with my company. The Chinese launched another offensive 1950. I remember that date because that was when I was and took Seoul again. We started back north, fighting the informed by the Red Cross that my wife, Virginia, had given Chinese all the way to the 38th Parallel. On Good Friday birth to our first son. 1951, we were attacking east of Seoul when I was hit by a "We headed north to the Chosin Reservoir with the 5th mortar. It hit my right side and the right side of my face, and 7th Marine Divisions ahead of us. All of our vehicles breaking facial bones and causing me to lose sight in my had to go up a one - vehicle road with high ground on both right eye. I guess the saying, 'the third time's the charm' is sides of the road. At a small village named Koto ri, we appropriate, because my third wound and now third Purple left the 2nd Battalion and my battalion, the 3rd Battalion, Heart allowed me to be sent home to a hospital in Corpus continued to Hagaru -ri which was on the south end of Christi, Texas. I was down to one eye but was able to see Chosin Reservoir. The 5th and 7th Marines were west of my son for the first time. Chosin atYudam -ni. We had it fairly easy to this point. That "I was there as an out - patient for about a year. I wanted was when it hit the fan. to stay in the Marines so I had to appear before a medical "We were hit by the Chinese on all fronts and on all board to be cleared for duty. The board was comprised of units. There were lots of units in trouble but you couldn't a medical doctor and two other Marine officers, both of go rescue anyone else because you were just trying to hang whom I had served with in Korea. I received their two votes on. Our air operations were very close behind our lines and was able to stay in the Marine Corps where I was one where they had constructed a 3,000 foot runway out of of only three one -eyed Marines that I ever knew and that frozen dirt. 1 had our machine guns placed along our entire were allowed to continue as a Marine." defensive perimeter to protect that airfield. Lt. General Miller retired from the Marine Corps in 1984 "My job was to go to each machine gun site and be a after having served in another war, Vietnam. When asked fire support coordinator for mortar and artillery. My OP about his service he replied, "I enjoyed being a Marine. 1 (observation post) was out twenty yards from our line. When spent almost forty years of my life as a Marine and I would we were first able to see the Chinese attackers, they would do it all over again if asked. The Good Lord has blessed me be no more than twenty to thirty feet from us. My machine beyond my expectations or what I may have deserved." guns averaged over 15,000 rounds per night, per gun. General Miller's name is on the Brazos Valley Veterans "Near the east end of our perimeter was a position Memorial. for more information, to make a contribution we called East Hill and it was occupied by the Chinese to the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial, or if you know a forces. The battalion XO (executive officer) was given the WWII or Korea War Veteran whose story needs to be told, assignment of taking it and I was volunteered to help him. contact the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial at www. We attacked the hill and managed to make it to the crest. veteransmemorialorgorBill Youngkin at (979)776 -1325.