The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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207469 Pfc. Joe R Miller US. Army from:Geneva, Ohio,USA Joe R. Miller who was a POW and captured by the Nazis December 17th of 1944. I have some history on him but not much. He went overseas to Luxembourg or Belgium. From what I found out at this time is he was in an Engineer Combat Battalion (do not know his infantry number) and was most likely captured on the first day of the Battle of the Bulge in Ardennes, December 17th of 1944 by the Nazis. During the battle, it is as far as I know and what I have been told, that the lines changed so quickly that he may not have never even made it to a POW camp as the Nazis at the time were more concerned in the push forward than in the transporting of prisoners back to Germany as they had been earlier in the war or with downed allied Airmen. They were also short on gasoline and did not use petrol for anything other than their offensive. They marched them and may have stopped here or there barely feeding them. He was captured as a POW for three and one half months. They stopped feeding them the last few weeks of his capture. He was a tall slender man, so you can imagine how he must have looked upon coming home. Some passed out from weakness and were shot. He had passed out, but they did not see him. My mother, from her memories, (she was only 3 when he enlisted in Cleveland Ohio June 3rd of 1943), said that he was found by some nuns who took him in. I am not one hundred percent sure of that story, but that is what she remembers. I do however have a few local Geneva Ohio paper clippings of his story. One is in small writing as if it was in the 'want ad' section and the heading is Joseph Miller and speaks of his honorable discharge given to him (Pfc. Joseph R. Miller) at Camp Perry after two and one half years in the Armed Forces. It also speaks of him being captured for three and one half months and held captive by the Nazis in Luxembourg /Belgium. The other article is "Pvt. Miller is Missing" and that speaks of my Grand Parents finding out he was missing in action - the same location mentioned in the other clipping. The last clipping is the family "Is Happy As Letter Arrives From Missing Son". This letter speaks of him being flown from Germany to France and staying at a hospital. He speaks of landing and seeing Majors and Colonels greeting them as a band played for them. They were treated as kings he states. My Grand Parents received offical notice from the War Department that their son was accounted for at this time and was safe. I wish I had more information but collecting this is very hard. I would love to have more information on him as my mother is the only surviving member of her family and the last and youngest sibling in her family. Joe passed in 2011 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington Virginia along with his wife (my Aunt) Shirley. I am so very proud of him and his military service made me see what a true hero he was serving his country. God bless the many men and woman who have lost their lives now and in past history. Lisa Lopez Add to this record.  Related Content: Battle of the Bulge Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.