American War Hero · World War II · Notice Nearby
Glenn Miller
March 1, 1904 – missing December 15, 1944
Born Clarinda, Iowa
Loss location: English Channel (presumed)
Major, U.S. Army Air Forces; leader, Army Air Forces band in the European theater
Missing in action — USAAF aircraft UC-64A, departed RAF Twinwood Farm for Paris on December 15, 1944, and did not arrive. Officially listed missing. Remains have not been recovered. Documentation: U.S. Army Air Forces casualty reporting; no identified wreckage accepted as his aircraft.
Alton Glenn Miller was already a famous bandleader when he put on an Army Air Forces uniform. He was born in Clarinda, Iowa, on March 1, 1904. The service used him the way a modern army uses morale — to keep men remembering they were still Americans. He took a large service band to England and was preparing to move it to France after the breakout from Normandy.
On December 15, 1944, he boarded a single-engine UC-64A Norseman at RAF Twinwood Farm for a flight to Paris. The aircraft did not arrive. No wreckage was identified in a way the record could close. He was declared missing. Later administrative findings of death did not produce a grave. This page marks him missing in action because that is the public military fact, not because a dance band is a combat arm.
Rumors about the flight are a civilian industry. This register will not print them. The documentation is a missing aircraft, a passenger list, and a Channel that did not give him back.
- Publication
- NN-HERO-1941-005
- Content hash
- c26d05cc 19e67523 1418d91d 7ba35b4e 0a538e2b e70d4191 d993a311 d1e1f949
- Base anchor
- 0x147441 281e89c7 fe84ceaf 20dca42e 64ce0fdc 86e86e0d c23de325 59791141 99
Base stores the content hash, publication number, memorial id, and timestamp — not the full obituary text. The complete memorial remains on Notice Nearby. This is not a legal affidavit.