CEMP Forrest Newton Miller

Forrest Newton Miller was born July 30, 1901 in Garfield, Kansas. His father, George Lincoln Miller, was a farm hand and later a masonry helper, and his mother, Luverne “Lula” Breeden Miller, was a homemaker.

The parents divorced between 1910 and 1915, by which time Forrest was living with his mother and four siblings in Concordia in north-central Kansas. By 1920 he was working odd jobs in Wichita, Kansas.

Forrest Newton Miller enlisted in the US Navy on August 12, 1937 in Bremerton, WA, His name was in the 1930 Census as a sailor on the U.S.S. Pennsylvania, a battleship then undergoing major modernization at the Navy yard in Philadelphia.  Records show he may have also been assigned to the U.S.S. Chaumont, and was eventually assigned to the U.S.S. Arizona on September 6, 1940. 

Mr. Miller was an electrician’s mate and chief petty officer on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

He was survived by his widow, Vivian.

His brother Arthur was an Army private first class in World War I.

Sources: the San Pedro (California) News-Pilot; Census; Navy muster rolls; grave marker. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.