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Interviewee
Miller, Earl F.
Document Type
Oral History
Date of Interview
4-8-2004
Abstract
Earl F. Miller was born on 16 February 1922 in Cold Spring, in central Minnesota. He attended local schools, graduating in 1940 from St. Boniface High School, and worked locally before enlisting in January 1942 in the Army Air Corps. Earl completed Basic Training and gunnery school, and was made a top turret gunner on B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. He and the rest of his crew were posted overseas to England in May 1943, joining the 381st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force; they flew their first mission later in May. Over the next five months Earl completed fourteen missions, but on 8 October, his B-17 was shot down on a mission to Bremen, Germany. Earl was taken to the Dulag Luft interrogation facility before being transported by rail to Stalag XVII-B, in Krems, Austria, where he remained until the war's final weeks. As the Russians approached from the East, the Germans evacuated all prisoners, and thus Earl was marching with other POWs when liberated by a spearhead of the American 13th Armored Division. Other units of the 13th followed, and evacuation was completed by 9 May. Earl was soon returned stateside, and was discharged in September 1945. Again a civilian, Earl and his wife Renee (married 1949) settled in St. Paul and raised four children; Earl worked thirty years for the US Postal Service in St. Paul, retiring in 1978. He was active many years in the American Ex-POWs organization.
Copyright
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced without the written permission of Concordia University Library or Thomas Saylor, Department of History, Concordia University, St. Paul.
Recommended Citation
Saylor, Thomas, "Oral History Project World War II Years, 1941-1946 - Earl Miller" (2004). Oral History Project: World War II Years, 1941-1946. 50.
https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/oral-history_ww2/50
PDF Transcript of Interview with Earl Miller