Sergeant Robert L. Miller

 I met Sgt Miller while home wandering lost in a cemetery looking for a relative buried there, the same day I found PltSgt Hughes. However, because Sgt Miller has a very common name, he was a bit more elusive.  While not "cracked" I believe I have enough to tell you about Sergeant Robert Leigh Hughes, and give you a little insight into how I found what I did.

I knew simply starting to look at the Marine Corps muster rolls for Robert L Miller would yield so many names--and it did! Too many to determine which one was the Marine I was hunting for. 

I needed more info. Find-a-Grave is a great resource.  While it doesn't have everyone in every cemetery, sometimes the bits it does have can be very useful when combined with the tools of ancestry.com.

Sgt Miller's find-a-grave page has little biographical information but it did provide me his date of birth--15 April 1911.  That's just the year before my grandfather (12 Apr 1912) was born and about 63 years (and a day) til I was born!  Combined with the date of death (20 Dec 1975), I did a search in ancestry and found his draft registration card, and his enlistment and release dates.  

With these dates I could once again try the muster rolls and simply narrow the search to October 1945, and Sergeants.  Thankfully, there was only one.  While I cannot be 100% sure this is THE Sgt Miller I'm hunting for, it is a pretty good bet since the footnote in the muster roll indicated he was being sent back to the US for processing and discharge--and our Sgt Miller was discharged in December 1945.

Therefore, while I may have the wrong person, here's what I found, albeit in reverse chronological order, as that's how I had to search him--backwards, with known information.  October 1945: Assigned to 7th 155mm Gun Battalion--returning to the US for discharge

July 1945: Same unit, on Okinwa

April 1945: Same unit, landed and fought in battle of Okinawa

July 1944: Same unit; landed and fought on Guam

April 1944: 2d 155mm Artillery Battalion redesignated as 7th 155mm Gun Battalion

Earlier than this and things get a bit fuzzy.  I believe he's sent to recruit training at Parris Island, and then assigned to the 2d 155mm Artillery Battalion, but again, it's not 100% clear.

What I can tell you is that Sgt Miller was a Cortland City Police officer before enlisting in the Marine Corps at the ripe age of 29.  He was already married (1935) to Lillian Mae and living in Cortland.  

After the war, based on the photo at his find-a-grave page, he went home and returned to being a Police officer.  Regrettably, I was unable to locate an obituary for him so I can't tell you anything more than he died on 20 December 1975 and that his wife lived for another 27 years.

Sometimes the stories aren't clear and the research doesn't make it any better.  However, the stories still must be told.  So Sgt Miller, you are remembered!