Veteran Interview with Dan Miller (G)
Mr. Miller describes the trip home from overseas at the end of World War II. (4:56)Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive Interview with Dan Miller June 24, 2011 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood Also present are Mr. Miller’s wife, Winnie Miller and his son, L...
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| Format: | Electronic |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
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| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/143 |
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Electronic |
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War Years at Home and Abroad Collection |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Military life |
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Military life Veteran Interview with Dan Miller (G) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Military life World War 1939-1945; Radio operators |
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Mr. Miller describes the trip home from overseas at the end of World War II. (4:56)Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Dan Miller
June 24, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Also present are Mr. Miller’s wife, Winnie Miller and his son, Larry Miller
Clip 7
Clint Alley: How long did you stay overseas?
Dan Miller: Pretty well two years. Little, just a little over two—I left in 1943, September 4, 1943 is when we left. It took us twenty-one days. The ships, to avoid getting intercepted, the ships would zigzag for a number of miles this way, a number of miles this way. Took us twenty-one days to get over there and when we came back it took us seven days.
CA: Were you in Italy when the war ended?
DM: We were in Italy, yeah, I could tell you this. When the war ended—see I was one of the last ones to get over there and the, the setup over there was, see the, the war was still going on in Japan and the orders we got, the people that hadn’t been there the longest was going to have to go to Japan and I was one of them. And the ones that’d been there a long time, the others, would have to stay there for occupation, clean up, and bring the equipment back and all that kind of stuff and so they shipped us to Naples, Italy and got on a ship there and we was on the way about one day, I guess, and about two o’clock in the morning they made an announcement over there that the war was over, they’d dropped the bomb over there and the war was over, two or three days later. So, we did that and they woke us up about two o’clock in the morning and announced it and which that made us happy. And then they made this announcement which made us happier, that we was so far out that they’d decided they would just keep going into the United States and not go back and unload us for occupation. So we just came right on in to the United States and so I was lucky to do that. Anything else you want to ask me, now, it’s, ah, this covered about everything, I reckon that I, that’s just sort of my life story. Got back and went to college they furn—the GI bill, I couldn’t have gone without the GI bill. Like I said, I graduated over here at UNA. On the last month, on December of ’49, why, that woman over there begged me to marry her, so we got married. [Mr. Miller indicates his wife, Winnie, who is sitting behind us].
Winnie Miller: He cut all of his ties with his other girlfriends so I was about the only thing he could find to marry.
DM: Three, three children—
WM: See I didn’t know—
DM: —and that’s one of them right there. [Mr. Miller indicates his son who is sitting behind us].
WM: —I didn’t know all of his bad habits.
DM: He’s a guitar player and he teaches music over at Alabama Music over here all the time; teaches guitar lessons.
CA: Okay. Okay.
Rhonda Haygood: Okay.
CA: And y’all married in ’49, you said?
DM: June 11, 1949.
Larry Miller: You tell them about your little incident where you got slapped on the hand for sending the wrong message?
DM: Oh! See, we, in the World War II you just don’t send out letters or anything, you just don’t write a, they, they censor it. If you’d sent a letter, a letter to the United States they, they opened it and censored it before they let it over here. But, anyway, I was pretty good at typing and I can type sixty or seventy words a minute, I guess, probably, did when I came out of the service. I went to college I was taking typing there one day and I, another, there’s a secretary that typed real fast and we just happened to be sitting side by side and we’d sit there typing and we’d get in competition with each other and we could both of us get up to about seventy or eighty words a minute typing on there and the teacher would get on to us for laughing at each other. But anyway, on the radio I was pretty good on that speed radio and speed code on there; [unintelligible] to send me a message and I’d stop him and tell him to speed up. I’d type him a message, you know, in code. They got a, they got a sign, a signaling code to increase your speed [unintelligible] and he, he wrote back, he just wrote back, “Sorry.” And then we got to talking to each other, you know, sending words, talking to each other. Well about a week later I got a copy of that thing over there, “That is a no-no.” And I, I should have known better than to do this because you don’t send messages over, word messages out on the radio in enemy territory.
CA: Well, thank you so much for coming out today, Mr. Miller.
DM: Well, thank you and I enjoyed talking with you—
CA: It sure was good to meet you.
DM: —and I hate to take so much of your time.
RH: Oh, goodness. Not at all.
CA: No, it’s fine.
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| title |
Veteran Interview with Dan Miller (G) |
| titleStr |
Veteran Interview with Dan Miller (G) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| author_facet |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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FLCPLwar143 |
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https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/143 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/war/id/143 |
| _version_ |
1705462192825958400 |
| spelling |
Veteran Interview with Dan Miller (G)World War 1939-1945; Radio operatorsMr. Miller describes the trip home from overseas at the end of World War II. (4:56)Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryDan Miller2011-06-24sound; textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishPart of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library CollectionMay be protected by U.S. Copyright laws. Contact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Dan Miller
June 24, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Also present are Mr. Miller’s wife, Winnie Miller and his son, Larry Miller
Clip 7
Clint Alley: How long did you stay overseas?
Dan Miller: Pretty well two years. Little, just a little over two—I left in 1943, September 4, 1943 is when we left. It took us twenty-one days. The ships, to avoid getting intercepted, the ships would zigzag for a number of miles this way, a number of miles this way. Took us twenty-one days to get over there and when we came back it took us seven days.
CA: Were you in Italy when the war ended?
DM: We were in Italy, yeah, I could tell you this. When the war ended—see I was one of the last ones to get over there and the, the setup over there was, see the, the war was still going on in Japan and the orders we got, the people that hadn’t been there the longest was going to have to go to Japan and I was one of them. And the ones that’d been there a long time, the others, would have to stay there for occupation, clean up, and bring the equipment back and all that kind of stuff and so they shipped us to Naples, Italy and got on a ship there and we was on the way about one day, I guess, and about two o’clock in the morning they made an announcement over there that the war was over, they’d dropped the bomb over there and the war was over, two or three days later. So, we did that and they woke us up about two o’clock in the morning and announced it and which that made us happy. And then they made this announcement which made us happier, that we was so far out that they’d decided they would just keep going into the United States and not go back and unload us for occupation. So we just came right on in to the United States and so I was lucky to do that. Anything else you want to ask me, now, it’s, ah, this covered about everything, I reckon that I, that’s just sort of my life story. Got back and went to college they furn—the GI bill, I couldn’t have gone without the GI bill. Like I said, I graduated over here at UNA. On the last month, on December of ’49, why, that woman over there begged me to marry her, so we got married. [Mr. Miller indicates his wife, Winnie, who is sitting behind us].
Winnie Miller: He cut all of his ties with his other girlfriends so I was about the only thing he could find to marry.
DM: Three, three children—
WM: See I didn’t know—
DM: —and that’s one of them right there. [Mr. Miller indicates his son who is sitting behind us].
WM: —I didn’t know all of his bad habits.
DM: He’s a guitar player and he teaches music over at Alabama Music over here all the time; teaches guitar lessons.
CA: Okay. Okay.
Rhonda Haygood: Okay.
CA: And y’all married in ’49, you said?
DM: June 11, 1949.
Larry Miller: You tell them about your little incident where you got slapped on the hand for sending the wrong message?
DM: Oh! See, we, in the World War II you just don’t send out letters or anything, you just don’t write a, they, they censor it. If you’d sent a letter, a letter to the United States they, they opened it and censored it before they let it over here. But, anyway, I was pretty good at typing and I can type sixty or seventy words a minute, I guess, probably, did when I came out of the service. I went to college I was taking typing there one day and I, another, there’s a secretary that typed real fast and we just happened to be sitting side by side and we’d sit there typing and we’d get in competition with each other and we could both of us get up to about seventy or eighty words a minute typing on there and the teacher would get on to us for laughing at each other. But anyway, on the radio I was pretty good on that speed radio and speed code on there; [unintelligible] to send me a message and I’d stop him and tell him to speed up. I’d type him a message, you know, in code. They got a, they got a sign, a signaling code to increase your speed [unintelligible] and he, he wrote back, he just wrote back, “Sorry.” And then we got to talking to each other, you know, sending words, talking to each other. Well about a week later I got a copy of that thing over there, “That is a no-no.” And I, I should have known better than to do this because you don’t send messages over, word messages out on the radio in enemy territory.
CA: Well, thank you so much for coming out today, Mr. Miller.
DM: Well, thank you and I enjoyed talking with you—
CA: It sure was good to meet you.
DM: —and I hate to take so much of your time.
RH: Oh, goodness. Not at all.
CA: No, it’s fine.
http://server15947.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/war,143 |