Dates

• Existence: 1925 - 2001

Biography

Norval Miller was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter T. Miller of 319 North Second Street, Festus, Missouri. His mother's given name was Anna. He had a sister called Helen, who was married to a man named Howard and in early 1945 gave birth to a son, Mike. The family had relatives in St. Louis: Uncle Phil, Aunt Emily, Alice, and Jimmy.

Norval apparently liked music, having played the bass horn before entering the army and teaching himself the ukulele while on active duty in the South Pacific. He also enjoyed reading such works as _A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_ and _H. M. Pulham, Esq._. He taught his friends in his outfit to play pinochle and was a most regular correspondent with his mother.

In May 1943 Miller's army career began at a camp in Illmo, Missouri. In October he left Jefferson Barracks, Missouri for Sheppard Field, Texas, where he joined the Army Air Corps without, however, aspiring to fly. By mid-May 1944 he was in New Caledonia, from where he was transferred to the Russell Islands, part of the Solomons chain. Near the end of the year he became a corporal. From December 7, 1944 onward he was stationed on Guadalcanal.

During 1945 he climbed steadily from sergeant to staff sergeant to tech sergeant, making master sergeant on February 1, 1946. By this time he was in New Caledonia once more. He appears to have returned to the United States in May of 1946 after enjoying a furlough in New Zealand.

Once back home he was assigned to travel around the Midwest accompanying soldiers' bodies home for burial. In 1948 he worked out of Kansas City, Missouri and in 1949 out of Fort Sheridan, Illinois. In 1951 he attended some sort of classes in administration at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. The last glimpse of him dates from 1958 when, apparently now a civilian, he was employed in the finance center of Fort Benjamin Harrison.

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