Lt. Col. William H. Miller, Jr. (Ret. US Air Force)

Lt. Colonel William H. Miller, 87, of Winchester, Virginia, died Friday, July 23, 2010, at his home in Winchester, Virginia

Col. Miller was born in April 27, 1923, in Winchester, Virginia, the son of the late Herbert William Miller and Ruth Edna Miller.

He attended John Handley High School, Class of 1941. He was elected “Most Popular” by his classmates, lettered in football (All Valley Conference) and track and was inducted in 1989 to the Hunter J. Maddox Hall of Fame.

He entered the University of Virginia in the fall of 1941, and was welcomed into the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. Like so many young men of his generation, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, duty beckoned and the pursuit of a degree was put on hold. In the fall of 1942, he signed on with the Army Air Corp. Following advance combat training he received his wings and was commissioned. He boarded the USS Lejeune in Brooklyn Yard and set sail for England and the European Theatre of Operations. As a 2nd Lieutenant P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber pilot he was assigned to the 9th Air Force, 366th Fighter Group, 389th Squadron. In coordination with ground forces, he flew his “Ginny Cavalier” on dive bombing and strafing missions above Belgium and Germany. In May 1945, he volunteered for a mission targeting the Harbor of Keil. “The weather was terrible” he wrote his parents. “All of us broke through (the clouds) at 500 MGH plus going straight down with a prayer left to pull out on”. He was credited with taking out a tanker and awarded Air Medal for Action in Flight over ETO. Days later Germany surrendered. Lt. Miller was put in for a promotion, deemed ‘essential personnel’ and remained in Germany as part of the Army of Occupation. He took command of the Squadron Communications Office. Now, all of 22 years old, with the war in the Pacific over and the dawning of the atomic age, he intuitively wrote home to his parents, “ I suppose I should have some emotion about it but it all seems like a wild fantasy or a very vivid yet undefined dream that is incomprehensible… I suppose we should be grateful that the vast power and threatening force of the atomic bomb has engineered the speedy conclusion of our war but, to me, even more frightening than the war itself, is the potential destructive force and all the complications that must accompany such a tremendous power. Only the future will tell…” Lt. Miller returned home later in 1946. He remained in the newly created United States Air Force Reserves and retired from duty in 1983.

Returning stateside, he courted wartime registered nurse and former high school classmate, Jean Elizabeth Shryock. In September 1947, they married at St. Thomas Church in Washington, D.C. and honeymooned at the Willard Hotel. He returned to UVA in the fall of 1947. Due to illness in his family he left his ‘beloved University’ and returned to Winchester in 1948 to manage his family’s business, Miller Brothers Florist and Nursery. He sold the business in 1977 and retired to the ‘country’. His final years were kept busy doing the things he loved most. His interests included oil painting, landscaping, tending to his gardens, fishing and watching his children and grandchildren come of age.

Colonel Miller was a former member of Elks Lodge, Lions Club and Christ Episcopal Church. He was also a member of the Thomas Jefferson Society of Alumni Class of 1945.

He was preceded in death by his wife in 1985.

Surviving include, daughters and sons-in-law, Ann and David Graves of Great Falls, VA, Mary and Phil Tobelmann of Wytheville, VA; daughter, Elizabeth Romanus of Montpelier, VA; a son, William H. Miller, III of Negril, Jamaica and his wife Nancy Murphy of Winchester; three granddaughters, Ann Marshall Reiffsteck and husband, Mike of Charlotte, NC; page Beerworth and husband, Adrian, of Sydney, Australia, and Chelsea Miller of Arlington, VA; six grandsons, John Romanus and Jason Romanus of Richmond, VA, Josh Romanus of Ashland, VA, Captain William S. Miller of Charleston, SC, Robert Graves of Great Falls, VA and Philip Tobelmann, Jr. of Charlotte, NC; and great granddaughter Mary Marshall Reiffsteck of Charlotte, NC. He is also survived by his sister, Jean Miller of Washington, D.C.

The family will receive friends on Wednesday evening from 6:00-8:00 PM at Omps Funeral Home, Amherst Chapel, Winchester, Virginia.

The family will have a private interment service at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Blue Ridge Hospice, 333 West Cork Street, Suite 405, Winchester, Virginia 22601.

Please view obituaries, tribute wall and guestbook at www.ompsfuneralhome.com.