Donald B. Miller – Colonel, United States Army

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Donald B. Millar, a former resident of Redlands, California, and recipient of the Roy Coble Award, died February 12, 2007, in Colorado Springs, following an illness. He was 89.

He had lived in Redlands from 1976 until 2005, when he and his wife moved to Colorado Springs to be with their daughter Pamela.

Millar grew up in Delaware and graduated from Pierre S. duPont High School in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1938.

After high school he attended the universities of Maryland, Hawaii and Texas and graduated from the Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

He was called to duty with the Delaware National Guard, 198th Coast Artillery, in 1940 as a Staff Sergeant. He graduated from Officer Candidate School in 1942 and served in the South Pacific, Germany, Korea, Hawaii, North Carolina, New York, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts and commanded the Kwajalein Missile Range in Micronesia.

He spent 23 of his 35 years of active duty in research and development.

Millar received the Soldier’s Medal for heroism at Bora Bora, Society Islands, was a three-time recipient of the Legion of Merit Medal, and was awarded the Army, Air Force and Department of Defense Commendation Medals.

An avid fan of flying, Millar received his pilot’s license in 1959. In 1975 he retired from his last duty station, Ent Air Force Base, Army Air Defense Command, in Colorado Springs.

In 1994, while he was living in Redlands, service clubs of Redlands honored him with the Roy Coble Award for his dedication to youth projects.

He volunteered as disaster relief chair with the American Red Cross in San Bernardino and spent many weeks in the Virgin Islands for hurricane relief in 1991; St. Louis floods, 1993; Laguna Hills fires, 1993; and the Northridge earthquake 1994.

He was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Redlands, the Quiet Birdmen, Granite-Corinthian Masonic Lodge 34 in Wilmington, Delaware, Honolulu Scottish Rite Bodies, Aloha Temple (Hawaii Shriners), Al Malaikah Temple (Los Angeles Shriners), Orange Belt Shrine Club (Redlands, San Bernardino Shrine Club, National Sojourners (Arrowhead No. 421 and Los Angeles No. 26 chapters, Heroes of 76), San Bernardino Masonic High Twelve Club, the Military Officers Association of America (Riverside and Orange Empire chapters), the Military Order of the World Wars (Lt. j.g. John M. Wright chapter), AUSA, American Legion, Post 105, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Sertoma (Woodmen Valley, Colorado Springs), Morning Kiwanis Club in Redlands and the American Red Cross.

Survivors include his wife of 67 years, Janet Quinn; three daughters, Gail Smith of Salado, Texas, Karen Fischer of Lewes, Del., and Pamela Hazlett of Colorado Springs, Colo.; five grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, three sisters and three brothers.

Private services will be administered by the Neptune Society. In the spring, Millar will be memorialized at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Red Cross in Colorado Springs, Colorado, or to the Foundation for Collingwood Library and Museum on Americanism (Foundation for CLMA), Collingwood on the Potomac, 8301 E. Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, Virginia 22308-139.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard