Godspeed Major Tom Miller

Posted By Blackfive • [September 04, 2005]

From Ben Bauman, I received the sad news that Tom Miller was killed in action last Wednesday.

LEXINGTON, Va., Sept. 2, 2005 ­ Army National Guard Captain Lowell T. Miller II, a 1993 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, was killed in action in Iraq on Aug. 31.

Captain Miller died of gunshot wounds sustained in combat. He was a member of the Michigan National Guard and volunteered for duty with the Mississippi National Guard's 1st Battalion, 155th Infantry during its deployment to Iraq. Further details of his death are not immediately available.

Captain Miller earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.

Funeral arrangements are not available at this time.

Captain Miller is the seventh VMI graduate to die in Iraq.

Ben received an email from Tom's father which gives us more details into Tom's life.

First of all, please forgive me for sending this news in an email. Members of my family that I haven't made contact with by phone are receiving this because of attempts made have failed. Some of you already know but don't have many details. I hope this helps you in understanding our loss. Those of you who I consider very close friends are receiving it also. I have sent it as a blind copy to each of you.

On Wednesday 31 August I received a knock on my door at 9:55 PM. It was a knock that I have dreaded for the past 2 years. An Army  Major in full Class "A" uniform was standing on my porch. It didn't dawn on me at the time until he asked are you Mr. Miller and  I said, "yes", that I realized who and why he was there. He said that on behalf of the Secretary of Defense, he regretted to inform me that my son Captain Lowell T. Miller II had been killed in action in Iraq.  I had visioned this same thing in my mind many times, since his brother Patrick first went to Iraq in 2003. My wife, Linda was not at home because she works nights at a funeral home and was running late. I had the grim task of meeting her as she got out of her car. She knew something was wrong by the look on my face. She asked, "is there something wrong." I said that I was just informed that Tommy has been killed.

It was a night mission. A night mission that they said  was too dangerous for American soldiers and they called on the group of Iraqi soldiers that he had been training for the past 6 weeks since he returned from his 2 weeks home on leave in July. He didn't want them to go alone so he  went with them. I'm not sure of the following but was told by the CAO (casualty assistance officer) that they were ambushed and he was shot once in the chest. He did not live but a short while. Tommy was a soldiers' soldier. He always took care of his men and never gave thought for his own safety.

His body is at Dover AFB in Delaware, arriving today(2 September 05). They will be preparing his body and sometime next week he will be flown back to Flint. There will be a full rites military funeral. He will be cremated and part of his ashes will be interned here and the other part will be scattered on the Parade Grounds of Virginia Military Institute where he graduated in 1993 and was commissioned a 2LT.

We have been told that he is to be posthumously promoted to Major and will receive a Bronze Star and Purple heart.

Tommy enjoied being a soldier. He had joined the 155th IN at Champ Shelby in Mississippi in order to be able to deploy to Iraq. In an email he stated that his job was fun training these soldiers and it appears that he had made some good Iraqi comrades.

He died doing what he believed in.

I only ask that you keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we go through this time. Tommy was a born-again Christian by accepting Jesus as his savior at the early age of 8 yrs. He still remained a believer until the end. He is now at peace with the Heavenly Father. He will go to war no more.

Thank you all so much.

Tom Miller

---

Comments

Godspeed Major Tom Miller

From Ben Bauman, I received the sad news that Tom Miller was killed in action last Wednesday.

LEXINGTON, Va., Sept. 2, 2005 ­ Army National Guard Captain Lowell T. Miller II, a 1993 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, was killed in action in Iraq on Aug. 31.

Captain Miller died of gunshot wounds sustained in combat. He was a member of the Michigan National Guard and volunteered for duty with the Mississippi National Guard's 1st Battalion, 155th Infantry during its deployment to Iraq. Further details of his death are not immediately available.

Captain Miller earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.

Funeral arrangements are not available at this time.

Captain Miller is the seventh VMI graduate to die in Iraq.

Ben received an email from Tom's father which gives us more details into Tom's life.

First of all, please forgive me for sending this news in an email. Members of my family that I haven't made contact with by phone are receiving this because of attempts made have failed. Some of you already know but don't have many details. I hope this helps you in understanding our loss. Those of you who I consider very close friends are receiving it also. I have sent it as a blind copy to each of you.

On Wednesday 31 August I received a knock on my door at 9:55 PM. It was a knock that I have dreaded for the past 2 years. An Army  Major in full Class "A" uniform was standing on my porch. It didn't dawn on me at the time until he asked are you Mr. Miller and  I said, "yes", that I realized who and why he was there. He said that on behalf of the Secretary of Defense, he regretted to inform me that my son Captain Lowell T. Miller II had been killed in action in Iraq.  I had visioned this same thing in my mind many times, since his brother Patrick first went to Iraq in 2003. My wife, Linda was not at home because she works nights at a funeral home and was running late. I had the grim task of meeting her as she got out of her car. She knew something was wrong by the look on my face. She asked, "is there something wrong." I said that I was just informed that Tommy has been killed.

It was a night mission. A night mission that they said  was too dangerous for American soldiers and they called on the group of Iraqi soldiers that he had been training for the past 6 weeks since he returned from his 2 weeks home on leave in July. He didn't want them to go alone so he  went with them. I'm not sure of the following but was told by the CAO (casualty assistance officer) that they were ambushed and he was shot once in the chest. He did not live but a short while. Tommy was a soldiers' soldier. He always took care of his men and never gave thought for his own safety.

His body is at Dover AFB in Delaware, arriving today(2 September 05). They will be preparing his body and sometime next week he will be flown back to Flint. There will be a full rites military funeral. He will be cremated and part of his ashes will be interned here and the other part will be scattered on the Parade Grounds of Virginia Military Institute where he graduated in 1993 and was commissioned a 2LT.

We have been told that he is to be posthumously promoted to Major and will receive a Bronze Star and Purple heart.

Tommy enjoied being a soldier. He had joined the 155th IN at Champ Shelby in Mississippi in order to be able to deploy to Iraq. In an email he stated that his job was fun training these soldiers and it appears that he had made some good Iraqi comrades.

He died doing what he believed in.

I only ask that you keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we go through this time. Tommy was a born-again Christian by accepting Jesus as his savior at the early age of 8 yrs. He still remained a believer until the end. He is now at peace with the Heavenly Father. He will go to war no more.

Thank you all so much.

Tom Miller

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341bfadb53ef00d834252d5353ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Godspeed Major Tom Miller:

» Various demands stretch local Guard units from Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator
With units deployed to Iraq and now heading to the stricken Gulf Coast, the National Guards in Misso [Read More]