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Doyle Kenneth Miller

Private Doyle K. Miller served with Able Company, First Battalion, 2nd Marines.
He was killed in action  at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 3 November 1942.

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

Branch

Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 351888

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

Current Status

Remains Not Recovered

Pursuit Category

The DPAA has not publicized this information.

Capsule History

Pre-War Life

Birth

July 10, 1922
at St. Joseph, MO

Parents

Earl Kisamore Miller
Anna (Heints) Miller

Education

Lafayette High School (1940)

Occupation & Employer

Assistant shoe department manager
Plymouth Clothing Company

Service Life

Entered Service

January 15, 1942
at Kansas City, MO

Home Of Record

1002 Green Street
St. Joseph, MO

Next Of Kin

Parents, Earl & Anna Miller

Military Specialty

Automatic Rifleman

Primary Unit

A/1/2nd Marines

Campaigns Served

Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal

Individual Decorations

Purple Heart

Additional Service Details

Loss And Burial

Circumstances Of Loss

Private Doyle K. Miller served with Company A, 2nd Marines during the Solomon Islands campaign.

At 0630 on 3 November 1942, Miller’s battalion began advancing west from the Point Cruz area, aiming for an area designated as the O3 Line. Shortly after noon, when about 300 yards short of the objective, they ran into a hornet’s nest of machine gun and mortar fire, and suffered 74 casualties before withdrawing to defensive positions.

As Private Miller attempted to advance with his squad, a Japanese rifle bullet slammed into his torso. Fellow Marine Jim Sorensen recalled the scene:

[Cpl. Thurman] Price's squad, on my right flank, caught it next and part of [Cpl.] Boyd's squad. First off, Miller, one of Boyd's BARmen, tried to cross the gully mouth and caught a bullet through the chest and died while the fracas was going on....

Burial Information or Disposition
Muster roll of A/1/2, November 1942.

Company A lost seven Marines killed in action on 3 November; of these, four – Private Raymond Hesslink, Private Doyle K. Miller, Private Dalton W. Whittington, and PFC Raymond E. Sanders were not recovered from the battlefield due to the conditions of the fighting. The company’s muster roll hopefully suggested they were “presumably buried in the field at place of death” but there is no other surviving evidence for this claim.

In the late 1940s, a search and recovery team from the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company discovered the remains of three men in the area. Two were identified – Private Thomas J. Christie (B/1/2) and PhM3c Bruce B. Bender (attached to the 2nd Marines). The remains of the third individual, designated “Isolated Burial X-12C,” were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific as an unknown.

Next Of Kin Address

Address of parents, Earl & Anna Miller.

Location Of Loss

A rough approximation of Miller’s area of loss on Guadalcanal.

Related Profiles

Members of First Battalion, 2nd Marines killed in "the vicinity of 300 yards West of Position 03" on 3 November 1942.
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