(Veteran Flag)

Lt. Cmdr. Ned Miller, 85

Lt. Cmdr. Ned Miller (U.S. Navy, retired) 85, of sterling, Va., died March 1, 2003. Services were held March 25 at Money & King Funeral Home in Vienna, Va., with interment in Arlington National Cemetery.

Lt. Cmdr. Miller was honored with a full military service, presided by the Navy Chaplain. The service included a flag-draped casket on a horse-drawn caisson; six Navy pallbearers, Color Guard, and Marching Battalion. The Navy band furnished the music, followed by “Taps” and a 21-gun salute. The American flag was presented to Lt. Cmdr. Miller’s nephew, Ned Miller of Blair, by the Chief of Naval Operations and the Navy Arlington Ladies, with an expression of thanks for the service he had provided to his country.

Ned Miller was born Aug. 3, 1917, in Kennard to John Henry and Katherine Miller. He graduated from Kennard High School in 1935.

He joined the Navy on Oct. 8, 1935, and completed boot camp in San Diego, Calif. He served on the battleship, USS Maryland. He was in charge of re-commissioning the USS Biddle, and had command of other ships in the North Atlantic. He served in the Far East during active times. He then took command of the LST 264 to be commissioned.

He was assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Blandys, on the USS Mt. McKinley, for the testing of the Bikini atomic bomb. Miller then received commission status to serve on the USS Bexar, an attack transport ship, as the communications officer during the Korean conflict. After serving two years on the Bexar, he transferred to the USS Burton Island, an icebreaker. On the Burton Island, he served as the navigator to survey the entire coast of Alaska. He made two trips each year to the Arctic, encountering sub-zero temperatures.

He then returned to Washington, D.C. where he worked at the Pentagon for two years. He then retired, after completing 24 years of service to his country.

Miller then sold real estate for PENN State for three years, then worked 16 year for the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Commission, retiring in 1985.

He is survived by nieces and nephews and their families. Attending services from Blair were his nephew and wife, Ned and Mary Miller. Also attending were his great nephews and great nieces and their spouses and children, Kathy and Tony Bender of Omaha, and Cindy and Jeff Kauk of Alma.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Marion; brothers, Howard Miller and Hank Miller, and sisters, Katherine Crosby and Bessie Masters.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~