Milton Barr Miller

Barr Miller, son of C.M. and Clio Barr Miller of Cornelia, was in his junior year at Georgia Tech majoring in Aeronautical Engineering when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He finished his quarter and immediately went to the US Naval recruiter to volunteer for service. With his love for planes, his desire was to be a naval aviator. He completed flight training in Pensacola, FL, and Ensign Miller was assigned as a naval aviator to fly submarine patrol and troop & supply ship escort duty in the North Atlantic. The one thing I can remember Daddy telling about the Navy was he knew he would have a dry bed in which to sleep, 3 hot meals daily, and he got to fly. He was, also, told that if he did not watch his fuel level or got shot down in the sea, they would not waste time searching for him because the cold water temperatures would not allow survival for a successful rescue!
I am thankful he was able to return safe and sound at the end of WWII or he would not have met the love of his life, my mother Betty Hammond Miller, while awaiting release from active duty in Daytona, Florida at the end of the war.
He returned to Cornelia and began working with my grandfather and his older brother John at Miller Apple Orchards and their Wholesale Grocery Business at Midway.