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| Cpl. Cyrus Miller served with the 101st Airborne in Holland. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62830553/cyrus-william-miller https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2018/12/23/101st-in-operation-market-garden-taking-the-bridge-at-best/ |
Cyrus William Miller never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on December 20, 1919 in Houston, Texas. His parents Cyrus and Hettie were born in Texas and North Carolina, respectively. His father worked as a railroad clerk. Cyrus had one younger brother. By 1940 Cyrus had completed two years of high school and was still living at home.
He enlisted in the army in January 1942 and volunteered for the paratroopers. He ended up a corporal in the 3rd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Cpl. Miller first saw action in Normandy when he parachuted into France in the early hours of D-Day.
Cpl. Miller jumped into Holland on September 17, 1944 as part of Operation Market Garden. Its mission was to capture the railroad and road bridges at Best. The Germans destroyed the railroad bridge just as the paratroopers were getting close. The highway bridge remained in German hands for two days until the 502nd successfully captured the bridge leaving more than 300 enemy dead and taking more than 1,000 prisoners. Cpl. Miller was killed during the second day of the battle on September 18, 1944.
One source says Cpl. Miller earned the Silver Star but I was not able to find the citation.
Fifteen years later his mother was invited as a guest of honor to the battlefield that claimed her son's life. She did a flyover of the local American military cemetery in a Piper Cub.
His grave is at Laurel Land Memorial Park in Dallas, Texas.
Last year on this date I profiled B-17 bombardier Samuel Bennett. You can read about Samuel here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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