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Miller, Rear Admiral Henry L. Papers 

Dates: 1942-1971

Collection Number: AR/452 (Formerly COLL/541)

Finding aid (Word)

Biographical Note

Henry Louis Miller was born on July 18, 1912, in Fairbanks, Alaska. He attended Drews Preparatory School in San Francisco and graduated in 1934. He was designated as the Naval aviator at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, in June 1938. He then completed the Bombardiers’ course at Sandia Base and the All Weather Flight Course at Corpus Christi, Texas.

Miller’s service included three years of duty in engineering and gunnery on board the battleship USS Texas (BB-35) and the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3). During World War II, he trained General Jimmy Doolittle’s “Tokyo Raiders” in carrier take-offs and later accompanied them to within 700 miles of their destination on board USS Hornet in April 1942. From November 1940 to November 1942, he was a Flight Instructor and Personnel Officer at the Naval Air Station, Ellyson Field, Florida. From November 1942 to May 1944, Miller commanded an Air Group based on board USS Princeton (CVL-23), and during the remainder of the war he had command of Air Group Six stationed on board USS Hancock (CV-19).

He had duty in the Navy Department during the period of December 1945 until July 1948, first assigned to writing Air Operations Instructions, later serving as Executive Officer, Air Branch, Office of Naval Research. For two years he served as Public Information Officer on the Staff of Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, and from June 1950 to August 1952 served successively as Executive Officer of Composite Squadron Seven, and of USS Leyte (CV-32).

Miller graduated from Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1953 and he reported for duty in the Strategic Plans Division at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operation. Two years later, in August 1955, he assumed command of the U.S. Naval Station, Sangley Point, Luzon, P.I., and on September 1, he became Commander Fleet Air, Philippines, and Commander Naval Air Bases, Philippines. Following his turn at these three positions, he became Assistant Director, and later Director, of the Progress of the Chief of Naval Operations. In January 1959, he assumed command of USS Hancock.

Miller received many awards for his services. For his World War II services he was awarded the Legion of Merit with Combat “V,” the Air Medal with five Gold Stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Four Gold Stars in lieu of additional awards, the Army Commendation Ribbon, and the Navy Commendation Ribbon.

On July 22, 1959, Miller was commissioned a Rear Admiral, and was appointed Chief of Staff and Aide to the Commander Naval Air Force, Pacific. Rear Admiral Henry Louis Miller commanded Carrier Division Fifteen, which is the Anti-Submarine Hunter-Killer Task Group, from May 1961 to June 1962. Admiral Miller also served as Assistant Chief of Staff for Plans, Joint Staff, Commander in Chief, Pacific, during the time when the turmoil in South East Asia escalated. He then assumed command of Carrier Division Three, a Heavy Attack Carrier Task Group, and at the same time he took command of Task Force, Seventy-Seven, and the Carrier Striking Force of the Seventh Fleet.

The admiral also served in Vietnam and launched the first of a succession of aircraft carrier strikes on North Vietnam from the decks of USS Ranger (CV-61), Coral Sea (CV-43) and Hancock. In October of 1965, he took the nuclear-powered Task Group, USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) from Norfolk, Virginia, to Subic Bay, P.I. Subsequently on December 2, 1965, he engaged the first nuclear-powered Task Force in combat with the enemy in Vietnam.

On April 13, 1966, he became Chief of Information, Navy Department, and “for exceptionally meritorious conduct…” in the capacity was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of the Third Legion of Merit. In October 1968, he reported as Commander Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland, with additional duty as Command Test and Evaluation Coordinator. He served until relieved of active duty pending his retirement, effective September 1, 1971.

 

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of the personal papers of Rear Admiral Henry L. Miller. The collection is a combination of a previously processed collection and newly acquired papers of Rear Admiral Miller. The newer collection was integrated into the previous one maintaining the same series with some additional ones. The collection contains correspondence, publications, speeches, memorandum, photographs and maps ranging between 1959 and 1971.

The collection is organized into seven series. Series I, Correspondence, includes both personal and official and outgoing and incoming correspondence intermixed beginning in 1959 to 1971. The correspondence is arranged in ascending chronological. At the end of the series is correspondence from the original subject files and are labeled as such to keep provenance of the collection. Some correspondence makes reference to publications that are contained in the Series IV: Publications; if so, there is a note referencing to the specific publications.

Series II consist of Subject Files. This series contains individual documents as well as groups of materials of the similar topics. Most of this collection was from the original collection and the same headings were used. If materials were moved to another series of the collection it will still retain the same subject file heading. Subject files are arranged in alphabetically.

Series III consists of memorandum. Miscellaneous, Industrial College, and Naval Institute are the folders that the memorandum is organized. The memorandum in the Industrial College and Naval Institute folders were removed from the subject files of the same titles. The memorandum is arranged chronologically within each folder and is itemized.

Publications can be found in Series IV. The folders are arranged in chronological ascending order. The majority of the publications are for a specific conference or program but there are magazines and other publications within this series as well. Some of these publications were attached to correspondence.

In Series V, speeches and articles are contained in chronological order by date. Each speech and article has its own folder and a written description. Rear Admiral Miller did not give all the speeches and articles that are contained in this collection.

All Photography and Slides are contained in Series VI. They are individual descriptions of them in the Box and Folder list and each one is labeled.

Series VII is the last series and contains maps. There are three different types of maps, which are divided into individual folders. The three types of maps are aerial maps, approach charts, and general maps. The focus of the maps is Japan during the World War II.


Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as Papers of Henry L. Miller, Archives Branch, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, D.C.



 

Published: Tue Aug 10 14:38:02 EDT 2021