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www.mybaycity.com November 20, 2002
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Veterans Remember . . .
Hope Public Doesn't Forget

Purple Heart Society Leader Spends 300 Hours a Year in Vets Work

November 20, 2002       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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Veterans turned out to honor fallen friends and comrades on November 11 at Bay County Building
 
Rifle Company was on hand for 21-gun salute to honor veterans on November 11

Emmons Miller spends about 300 hours a year in volunteer activities relating to veterans. As commander of the Purple Heart Society, comprised of about 60 veterans who were wounded in combat, he hopes the public doesn't forget the contributions of veterans.

At the last public event to honor veterans, on Nov. 11, which is celebrated as Veteran's Day, about 30 veterans were on hand and only about 30 members of the public were there as onlookers. Dave Glaza of the Bay County Veterans Council placed a wreath at the veteran's memorial outside the Bay County Building on Center Avenue and the firing squad of seven rifles gave a 21 shot salute to the departed military members memorialized on the monument.

"But it's not like the old days. I can remember when they had to block off the street from Jefferson to Madison because there were so many people at the Veteran's Day ceremonies," said Miller, 83. "I'm just afraid that people's memories aren't so good anymore when it comes to veterans and the contributions they have made to our liberty."



The veterans themselves haven't forgotten. Many of the group from the Veterans Council are busy many hours a month, at funerals, bingos at the Saginaw Veterans Hospital, visiting sick comrades,etc.

Miller, whose nickname is "Bing," enlisted in the National Guard and served two years, 1938-40, as a medic before World War II. He got a job at Dow Chemical Bay City making castings, married and after Pearl Harbor, in 1942, he was drafted into the Army Air Corps. Miller volunteered for the Army as a medic and was sent overseas to France. On the way their convoy was attacked, a tanker was torpedoed and he saw a German sub sunk by depth charges from Navy sub chasers.

Arriving at Omaha Beach just before the Battle of the Bulge, Miller drove trucks for the 16th Armored Division from Cherbourg, France, to Belgium and back, and helped set up a hospital. The most action he saw was when General George Patton's unit broke out of the Bulge. Assigned then to the 46th Medical Battalion of the 4th Armored Division, Miller picked up five wounded Frenchmen, bandaged them up and sent them home.

He was hit by shrapnel where Germans were shelling near the Rhine River. He was wounded in bothhands, the neck and arm. Flown back to a hospital, he recovered and returned to duty just in time to participate in the last drive of the war. Patton liberated Pilsen, in Czechoslovakia, where he helped set up another hospital. "Hit 'em, hit 'em, and don't stop," Miller remembers Patton saying at the time. They didn't stop until the unit had gone 30 miles beyond Pilsen and were almost behind Russian lines. Then Patton was ordered by higher headquarters to stop and the air was blue at his headquarters. The feisty Patton wanted to go right on through and deal with the Russians, too. Those incidents have been chronicled in movies and books and who knows, maybe Patton was right.

Thirty years later, after his son Mike wrote Gen. Dick DeMara of the National Guard and Congressman Bob Traxler, the French government sent Miller a letter of gratitude. And the Croix de Guerre. And the Liberation Medal. And a certificate from the French government. They hang on his wall at home on State Street. And recentlythe Bay City Public Schools gave him the diploma he should have gotten back in the 1940s. Miller is retired from the Bay City Fire Department with 23 years service. He was a captain at the Fremont Avenue Station.

The next public event to honor veterans comes Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day, when veterans will gather in Veterans Memorial Park for ceremonies. Miller hopes that more people remember and show up for the event.



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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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