News-Info-Alerts

Re: Former POW Passes

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: July 29, 2002

"Miller able to 'see' world by inner eye
 
By Jaime Castillo
San Antonio Express-News
   
William "Bill" Miller may have been vision-impaired, but the venerable traveler still made sure he saw the world.

Miller, who died Thursday at age 89, lost most of his sight as a result of injuries suffered as a prisoner of war during World War II. But he never lost his zeal for life, family and friends said Sunday.

"He was curious about the world and he wanted to go do everything he could do," said Bob Bottenberg, a fellow veteran and a friend of Miller for about 50 years.

Miller, a native of St. Louis, graduated from the University of Missouri in 1937 with a degree in business. He initially found the job market tough as the country was still working its way out of the Depression.

In 1940, he married Geraldine and soon after, the young couple moved to the Philippines, where they helped a family member run a rural bus company called Pambusco. A year later, Miller, an Army reservist, was pulled into active duty as World War II erupted.

He endured the Bataan Death March, when Japanese soldiers forced captured American troops to walk for 12 days without food or water to a POW camp. And his resulting stays in at least three POW camps nearly cost him his life.

Bouts with malaria, dysentery and beriberi forced Miller, who earned the Silver Star for bravery, to be hospitalized for nearly a year after Allied forces liberated Manila. But he recovered enough to continue his passion for travel.

With Geraldine as his "eyes," the couple moved to San Antonio in the early 1950s and traveled from Alaska to South America and points beyond and between, said nephew Roger Cottrell.

"They were also big-time entertainers," Cottrell said. "They loved to have big parties and he'd put on a tuxedo."

Geraldine preceded him in death in 2000 after nearly 60 years of marriage.

When they weren't traveling, the couple ran the Oak Motor Lodge off Broadway near Fort Sam Houston. It was during those years that Miller also started the Texas regional chapter of the Blinded Veterans Association to help veterans who suffer from vision loss.

"Bill was in the middle of it," said Bottenberg, a longtime member and officer in the organization. "For a long time, he was the main person."

The family will receive friends today from 6 to 8 p.m. at Porter Loring Mortuary, 1101 McCullough Ave. A graveside service will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

jscastillo@express-news.net"