S1c John David Miller

John David Miller was born on Sept. 26, 1918 at Estelline, a spot on the road about 90 miles southeast of Amarillo, Texas. His father, John O. Miller, was a farmer and his mother, Texana Julian Miller, a homemaker.

By 1930 the family had moved 120 miles southwest to Post, Texas, population 1,668, where the father was overseer of a cotton mill.

John David Miller married Sybil Windham, but the marriage was brief because she died in October 1940 at age 19 of acute endocarditis. He enlisted in the Navy two months later. Mr. Miller was a seaman first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

At least two brothers also served in the military — Claude in the Navy from July 1940 through July 1946 and Robert in the Army from January 1942 through March 1945. Claude was on the U.S.S. Idaho, a battleship, in Iceland on the day his brother was killed.

Sources: the Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal; the Carlsbad (New Mexico) Current-Argus; Texas birth and death certificates; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs death files; grave marker; Census; Navy muster rolls. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.