Jack Miller
First Lieutenant Jack Miller served with Able Company, 2nd Marine Raider Battalion.
He died of wounds received in action at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 4 December 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number O-8438
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
April 2, 1920
at Dallas, TX
Parents
Henry Sam Miller, Sr.
Carmen (Jablow) Miller
Education
Forest Avenue High School (1936)
Southern Methodist University (1941)
Occupation & Employer
Joined while in college
Service Life
Entered Service
May 19, 1941 (enlisted)
November 1, 1941 (commission)
at Quantico, VA
Home Of Record
2714 South Boulevard
Dallas, TX
Next Of Kin
Father, Mr. Henry S. Miller
Military Specialty
Raider
Platoon Leader
Primary Unit
A/2nd Raider Battalion
(Carlson’s Raiders)
Campaigns Served
Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Navy Cross
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
First Lieutenant Jack Miller served as a platoon leader in the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion – better known as “Carlson’s Raiders” – during the Guadalcanal campaign. He participated in the “Long Patrol” which commenced at Aola Bay on 4 November 1942 and slowly wound its way north towards the Lunga Perimeter, wreaking havoc on Japanese troops behind the front lines. Miller’s company arrived on the island on 25 November, providing badly needed reinforcements to the gaunt and exhausted battalion. By early December, the exhausted and hungry Raiders were more than ready to reach the safety of Henderson Field
On 3 December 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson ordered his men to take on one final challenge – scale the heights of Mount Mombula (or Mount Austen, the highest point on Guadalcanal) and eliminate any Japanese observations posts they might encounter. Lieutenant Miller’s platoon took point for the six hour climb, and gained the summit at approximately 1400 hours. Miller deployed a squad as flank security and grew annoyed at a perceived delay. Raider Ray Bauml recalled what happened next.
I was about to go back and tell them I couldn't find anything, and behind us our officer [Miller] and his runner must have walked up along the trail, come around, and crashed through like a herd of elephants. I almost shot him. I said, "Holy Christ!" He was pissed off. He said, "Where the hell is everyone? What's taking so long?" I said, "They're laying over there about fifteen yards, I'm guessing."
Then I was going to step in front of them to lead them, but they train the officers to go first, so I stepped right behind them. We took two steps and a Jap machine gun went off and almost blew his entire head off. All his teeth were knocked out and his tongue was like strips of liver; his whole lower jaw was almost missing. I said, "Lay low." It's amazing how you react. "Lay low, Lieutenant."
Miller’s fellow officer Oscar Peatross later wrote that the “pleasant, clean-cut, handsome young Marine” had been shot by a Thompson submachine gun – an American weapon in Japanese hands.
A Raider corpsman managed to stabilize Miller, and by evening the lieutenant was able to mumble a few words in conversation. He spent a long and painful night struggling to breathe, tended constantly by surgeons working in shifts. The following morning, he was well enough to joke about needing an entire case of beer as soon as he got back to Henderson Field – which they could see from the top of the mountain.
The battalion set a quick pace back to the perimeter, rushing to get their wounded men to medical treatment. Unfortunately, they ran into an ambush which caused some delay and four more fatal wounds. After pausing to bury three Raiders beside the trail, and treat a fourth who would later succumb, the battalion got underway again, and marched for about an hour. Miller’s condition gradually worsened as they moved. He called out feebly for his friend Victor Maghakian, but slipped away before “Transport” reached his side.
“He suffocated from his own phlegm,” said Bauml. “It wasn’t a pretty sight.”
Burial Information or Disposition
When word of Miller’s death reached headquarters, Colonel Carlson halted the battalion for a brief burial service. Miller’s body was laid in a shallow grave; the “Old Man” said a few words, and many hardened Marines shed tears. “We gave him a decent burial on the side of the trail,” said Maghakian, “and I am not ashamed to admit I cried like a baby which I have never done in my life.”
Miller was buried along the “Kirokiki-Matanikau Trail” on the north side of Mount Mombula. The Raiders marked the grave with a cross, but were unable to provide more detailed coordinates. In the subsequent campaigning for Guadalcanal, the marker was destroyed or overgrown. Lieutenant Miller’s remains have not been found to this day.
For a more detailed biography of Lieutenant Jack Miller, see “American Commando” by John Wukovits.
Memorials
Manila American Cemetery and Memorial
Emanu-El Cemetery, Dallas, Texas
Namesake of destroyer escort USS Jack Miller (DE-410), in service from 1944 – 1968.
Next Of Kin Address
Address of father, Mr. Henry S. Miller.
Location Of Loss
Lieutenant Miller died along a trail leading from the summit of Mount Austen to Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.
