S/Sgt Russell B. Miller

Biography and Wartime Service

Russell Blair Miller was born on 8 October 1924 in Hampshire, West Virginia. He joined the military in June 1943 age 18 and was assigned to A Battery of the 125th AAA Gun Battalion with whom he trained at Camp Haan, California. One year later, in June 1944, his unit was send overseas. Their destination was the county of Kent where they would get acquainted with the German V1 bombs, aimed for London. In September 1944 the unit crossed the Channel into France and spend a few quiet weeks defending the port of Cherbourg before heading to Belgium. Here they faced the V1 bombs once more, this time their mission being the protection of the Port of Antwerp. After the war he returned to West Virginia and married his wife Betty Adams, together they had one son Steve. Blair Miller passed away in his home state of West Virginia on 9 September 2010, age 85.

I had the pleasure of meeting with his son Stephen 'Steve' B. Miller during his visit to Belgium tracing his father’s footsteps in December 2019. Accompanying him was his good friend John Morton who's father was a medic with the 427th Medical Collecting Company. In 2021, I was able to visit Stephen B. Miller at the US. Russell's son Stephen B. Miller, his daughter Brandy Lynn Lynch and husband Travis and his grandchild, Riley Lynch also returned in November 2024 to attend the ceremony & event commemorating the 80th anniversary of Antwerp X in Putte, Belgium.

Gallery

click on the images to enlarge