Joseph Miller
Rank: Private First Class, U.S. Army
Serial: 32265003
Unit: Troop A, 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 102nd Cavalry Group
Entered service from: New Jersey
Died:
Burial: Section 46, Lot 1, Grave 2, Trace 2 — Berlin Cemetery, White Horse Pike, Berlin, NJ
Biography
Private First Class Joseph Miller was born in 1918 to John C. and Hester Miller. He grew up in the Watsontown section of Clementon, NJ, where he attended grammar school. The fifth of seven children, he came after Hester, Lottie, Verna, and John Jr., and before Thelma and Albert. The Miller family owned a home at 18 Atlantic Avenue in Clementon. John Miller Sr. was a foreman at a nearby oilcloth factory. Joseph Miller received his secondary education at Camden County Vocational School in Pennsauken, NJ before taking a job with the Anchor-Hocking Company in Salem, NJ. He had relocated to the Salem area when he was inducted into the United States Army in 1942.
Joseph Miller was inducted into the Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey on April 8, 1942. Along with a number of other men who were inducted that day, including Benjamin F. Pyle and Leopold Renzi of Camden, all three were sent to the Cavalry Replacement Center at Fort Riley, Kansas. Benjamin F. Pyle was assigned to Troop A of the 117th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 102nd Cavalry Group. Leopold Renzi was assigned to Troop B of the same unit, and Joseph Miller was sent to Troop A of the 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron. All three men were later killed in action.
Private Joseph Miller also received training at Fort Meade, Maryland. He went overseas as a member of Troop A, 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron. He was killed in action during the fighting near St. Pierre de Semilly, France on July 26, 1944.
Joseph Miller was brought home after the war. He was buried in Berlin Cemetery in Berlin, NJ on February 21, 1949.
Military Funeral For War Hero
Camden Courier-Post —
Military funeral services for Pfc. Joseph Miller, formerly of Atlantic avenue, Watsontown, will be conducted by the George R. Duncan post 271, American Legion, Saturday at 2 p.m. in a funeral home at Central and Rich avenues, Berlin. Burial will be in Berlin cemetery.
Pfc. Miller was killed in the battle of St. Lo, France, July 26, 1944, at the age of 23. His body was temporarily interred in St. Lorraine, France. He was born in Watsontown and spent most of his life there. He attended the Watsontown public schools, graduated from the Clementon grammar school and attended the Camden County Vocational school.
He was employed by the Anchor-Hocking Co., Salem plant, and entered the army in Salem in 1942. He received his preliminary training at Fort Riley, Kan., and Fort Meade, Md. He went to England and two weeks after the invasion of Normandy went to France as a member of the 102d division of mechanized cavalry.
Surviving are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John C. Miller, Chester; six sisters, Mrs. Ethel Anthony and Mrs. Hester Falato, both of Watsontown; Mrs. Edna Dunn, Woodbury; Mrs. Lottie Nebitt, Laurel Springs; Mrs. Verna Phillips, New Sharon, and Mrs. Thelma McElvarr, Chester, and two brothers, John C. Jr., Camden, and Pfc. Albert C., with the army in Trieste.