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.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 351888
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
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.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of parents, Earl & Anna Miller.
Location Of Loss
A rough approximation of Miller’s area of loss on Guadalcanal.
