Eugene Parker Miller

Eugene Miller’s body was found somewhere on Betio, in an unidentifiable condition and lacking any personal effects that might have borne his name. He was buried as an unknown in the East Division Cemetery near Hawkins Field.

In 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company exhumed all known burials and attempted to identify as many individuals as they could. One set of remains arrived at the processing center with a few coins and two dog tags bearing the name of Captain Edward G. Walker, Jr. Usually, the technicians of the 604th would not accept personal effects as definite proof of identity; remains were checked for key physical characteristics, especially dental peculiarities. However, due to the sheer number of unknown remains on Betio, the company had to re-train some of its men to work on the processing line, and inevitable errors occurred. It may have been one of these inexperienced men who determined Walker’s identity and sent the remains to Lone Palm Cemetery for reburial.

The remains labeled as Walker were eventually shipped back to his family in Lebanon, Tennessee, and buried in the family plot.

In 2021, laboratory analysis of unidentified remains exhumed from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific raised an uncomfortable truth: the man buried in Lebanon was not Walker at all. The real Captain Walker had been buried in Honolulu as X-198. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency notified Walker’s relatives; the casket was exhumed, remains exchanged, and Walker was finally home.

Eugene Parker Miller was the man misidentified as Edward Walker. Laboratory analysis confirmed the connection on 28 November 2022, and Miller was buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in January 2024.