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https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/270f51fb23b622c9676cc27f42bf218c.mp3
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10/15/2012 1:02:00 PM
Transcript of Oral History Interview with Kenneth Robert Miller.
October 14th, 2012
Boone, NC
Thomas Miller: Today is Sunday, October 14, 2012. 6:25PM. Currently in a
Lowe's parking lot conducting this interview via phonecall.
Kenneth Miller: Did you say 14th7
Thomas Miller: I believe so. October 14th.
Kenneth Miller: Yeah, you got it.
Thomas Miller: Ok.
Kenneth Miller: Yep.
Thomas Miller: So grandpa, if you could state your name and your birthdate.
Kenneth Miller: Alright. My name is Kenneth Robert Miller. My birthdate is
August 6th, 1940.
Thomas Miller: Thank you very much and the people attending this interview
are myself, Thomas Miller, and my grandfather Kenneth Miller.
Ok ... Grandpa ...
Kenneth Miller: Yes.
Thomas Miller: First question: Which war and branch? Which war did you
serve in and which branch of service?
Kenneth Miller: I served in the Cold War. And that really took place following
World War II all the way up until the Berlin Wall fell. And those dates are
kind of considered the Cold War. And I served ... in the United States Army
3rd Armor division as a tank driver.
�Thomas Miller: Awesome. What was your rank or what is your rank?
Kenneth Miller: My rank ... My departing rank was Specialist
4 th
Class.
Thomas Miller: Thank you. Where did you serve?
Kenneth Miller: Well I took my basic training in Fort Hood, Texas. And that
lasted for 16 weeks. I went in the Army in June and so that Fall of 1958 I
was sent to Germany at a place called Gelnhausen. G-E-L-N-H-A-U-S-E-N.
And that was kind of... It's on the full gap, which is the main route that the
.Russians would have taken if they were going to attack Europe. And so the
3rd Armor Division had the responsibility of guarding that full gap and
stopping the Russians from doing that if we could. But we were
outnumbered considerably and I'm glad they didn't try to do that. So I was
in Germany for two years and in the Fall of 1960 I was transferred back to
the States and I finished up my tour of duty in ... at Fort Devens
Massachusetts. Which is right outside Boston. And that tour of duty lasted
something like six or seven months. And ... the night President John F.
Kennedy was elected President in the Fall of 1960 I was there in Boston,
which is more or less his hometown, and people went crazy and they were
watching it on television. It was a late election before it was really known
but people kind of had a feeling that he was gonna get elected. And, well I
got to see all that.
Thomas Miller: That's really cool Grandpa. Personally why did you join?
Kenneth Miller: Well. ..We finished up high school and several of us guys
really did not want to go immediately on to college nor did we want to waste
the next two or three years. So, I guess about five or six of us joined the
Army and pretty much we stayed together or close to each other throughout
our tour of duty. Mostly in Germany. It was just a question of we didn't want
to waste time, we wanted to be productive during that period of time. When
I got out of the Army that's when I went to college.
�Thomas Miller: ...Why did you choose the Army? Why did you choose to go
the Army ... route?
Kenneth Miller: (laughs) I really don't know. (laughter) One reason, I think
at that time the Airforce required a four year enlistment and so did the
Navy. The Marines were a little too rough for us. And so that kind of left the
Army and that's the way we went.
Thomas Miller: (laughter) You said you went to Germany.
Kenneth Miller: Yes .
Thomas Miller: Do you remember kind of what it was like? Kind of like the
overall atmosphere? The environment?
Kenneth Miller: Sure. When I was in Germany from the Fall of 1958 to the
Fall of 1960. In that two year period I spent nine months of each year out in
the boondocks on manuevers. It was quite the thing at that time because
noone was really sure what the Russians were going to do. So we took our
tanks and we were always on manuever. And .. . while I was there I did get to
go, we had three months back at our base in Gelnhausen each year. I was
able to go to Holland for a while and England and France just to visit. And ...
That was interesting. The German people at that time, some of them liked
us and some of (them) didn't like Americans. If you can remember some of
the things that occurred during World War II, Americans and the British
carpet bombed a lot of Germany, and the Germans never did forgive
America for doing that. But, those times are gone now, that was over fifty
years ago. And the bomb damage that I saw, a lot of it, what they did was
just build up fences so you couldn't see it. They more or less just hid the
bomb damage. Although they were rejuvinating as a nation real quickly, at
this time they were still making early progress. What people would do, the
younger people at that time, what they did, the Germans to go on some
time off. (coughs) Excuse me. They would take motorcycles and camping
equipment and travel throughout Europe on motorcycles and camping
equipment. There was no such thing as a beach, or anything like that. Or a
Disney World, that just didn't exist. And that's how they kind of entertained
�themselves. But a lot of Germans when I was there really didn't like
Americans and some areas were put off limits to us because of that. But by
and large I met some very good people there. And I got to go into some
homes of some of the Germans and have meals with them and enjoy being
with them.
Thomas Miller: That's really cool Grandpa. What are some of your ... You
already kind of touched on a couple of those kinds of memories, but what
were some of your most memorable experiences?
Kenneth Miller: In Germany, the memory that will never leave me was how
cold it was. When we were out in the field at best we hadn't... The tanks that
we had to stay in to stay warm. We had tents on occasion and if we were
real lucky we had some temporary barracks to stay warm. But the
temporature would get down to something like thirty below zero at night
throughout the winter and there was always snow on the ground. It was just
very miserable and that's my most vivid memory was that weather. I really
did not like it. During the summer time it was okay, but even at that it was
just an awful way to make a living.
Thomas Miller: I think I saw you upload a picture on Facebook of you a while
back. Of you in Germany I believe. Do you know which picture I'm talking
about?
Kenneth Miller: Say what Tommy?
Thomas Miller: Do you know which picture I'm talking about? It's of you and
I think you're at a campsite of some sort. There's snow on the ground
everywhere.
Kenneth Miller: Yeah, that was two locations. One of them was Vielfleckin,
the other name kind of escapes me. But...where I was in Gelnhausen, as the
crow flies it was forty miles to the Soviet border. East German border
actually. So we were forty miles away from five divisions of Russian armor.
And Vielfleckin was in one direction and this other site that we went to was
in another, but both of them were up toward the East German border. And
�we stayed within two or three miles of the East German border and did our
manuevers. And they watched us as we did them. (cough)
Thomas Miller: How did you feel? How did you personally feel doing those
manuevers with Russians so close?
Kenneth Miller: How did I feel about what?
Thomas Miller: Just in general, about doing those manuevers and knowing
that the Russians were so close.
Kenneth Miller: Well ... We tried our best not to think too much about it. I
was seventeen, eighteen years old and we didn't think the Russians would
come after us. (cough) As it was I mean we're talking full-time nuclear war if
they would have done that. And there were a lot of NATO troops there along
with us. So they would have had a difficult time entering central Europe to
begin with ... even though we were greatly outnumbered. But we never really
thought about that, day to day. It was only something we thought about
when we were called out on full alert, which is something like three or four
times a year. We'd get a midnight phonecall, everybody had to run to their
tanks and go to designated spots. You had so long a time to get there. And
it was only during those times that you would really think about the Russians
and what was really going on.
Thomas Miller: Were you awarded any medals or citations?
Kenneth Miller: Well, the only medal I got was a good conduct medal. I did
get some medals for being an excellent rifleman. But no medals because I
was not actually in a war. I ultimately also got the Cold War medal but no
shooting war.
Thomas Miller: While you were stationed in Germany how did you stay in
touch with your family?
Kenneth Miller: The only way I could and that was by mail. U.S. mail. I'd
write letters to them, and they would write letters to me. It would take, oh I
�don't know, two to three weeks to ... for my letter to get to them and for them
to respond another two to three weeks. It was a slow process, and we
always did look forward to mail call hoping that we'd have a bunch of mail.
Sometimes we'd get a couple of letters, sometimes none. But U.S . mail was
the only way. There was no such thing as telephones to call home or iPads
(laughs) or computers, facetime and all that. None of that existed.
Thomas Miller: What did you guys do to entertain yourselves? Or to pass the
time?
Kenneth Miller: Well. .. (laughs) Sometimes we would visit a local
guesthouse, which were what we called the bars. The beer was excellent.
We did travel around locally when we had the chance, but you got to
remember when you're out on manuevers like I was, so much of the time
you had no opportunity to go anywhere. So, it wasn't... We just didn't get to
entertain ourselves very much. (cough)
Thomas Miller: (Pause) Umm ...
Kenneth Miller: I got another vivid memory which is part of that too. The
music that we listened to included The Platters musical group back then was
very popular. And they had this song "When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." I
remember that song playing over and over and over. And it would make us
so homesick, that it was pathetic.
Thomas Miller: I'm sorry to hear that Grandpa.
Kenneth Miller: That's right.
(laughters)
Thomas Miller: What did you think about your officers or your fellow soldiers.
Kenneth Miller: Back when I was in the Army, there was also a draft. Now I
volunteered, and me and my friends all volunteered. But most people,
probably most, were drafted. So you had no choice about who were your
�bunkmates or (coughs) who you associated with or whatever. And there
were truly all types of people. There were some I'm sure were told to get in
the Army or jail. They had no choice. Some had never finished highschool,
that wasn't necessarily a requirement either. Well, you know, you met all
types of guys. Most were really great guys, a few of them were not.
Thomas Miller: After your term ended did you keep in contact with any of
those people?
Kenneth Miller: I kept in contact particularly with a fellow down in
Tennessee, who was in my outfit. (cough) Now he was a little older than me.
Four or five years older. And he was drafted. But he and I became very close
friends and he had his wife over there. We had a good time all of us
together. And I kept in touch with him until he died about three years ago of
Parkinson's Disease. He was from Athens, Tennessee. Now, in addition to
him, the guys that went in the service with me, most of them are still
around here. Most of them are still living even if a couple of them aren't in
great health they're still around. But the fellow down in Tennessee was the
only one I really kept in close touch with over the years.
Thomas Miller: Do you remember the exact day that your service ended?
Kenneth Miller: Yeah. It was May the 10th, 1961.
Thomas Miller: Where were you at the time?
Kenneth Miller: Fort Devens, Massachusetts. I was in a small outfit there
that was really a military police outfit. And my responsibility was to keep
their weapons. I was a weapons expert, small arms .... And keep their
weapons safe and clean and whatever. (cough)
Thomas Miller: Weapons expert.
Kenneth Miller: Yeah.
Thomas Miller: Sounds pretty cool Grandpa.
�Kenneth Miller: Yep.
Thomas Miller: What did you do the days or weeks after your service ended?
Kenneth Miller: Well, I'll tell ya we all received a special bonus pay when we
left the Army. Wasn't much, but it was I don't know fifteen hundred dollars
or something like that. And me and a couple of buddies, I don't even
remember them, we went to New York City and we spent it all about a week,
maybe less than that. Then I came on home. I had a car at the time and I
just drove back to Frankfort (KY) after that.
Thomas Miller: And you said that you went to school afterwards?
Kenneth Miller: Yeah I uhh .. . That summer I got back in Frankfort
somewhere at the end of May (cough) maybe a little sooner. And met up
again with an old girlfriend. She and I got married that summer and then
she was going to Eastern Kentucky University and I went to that school
because she was there. And then I went through that university and got my
degree in three years to try to make up for some lost time. And so that's
kind of what I did, you know after I got out of the Army.
Thomas Miller: Did you join any veteran's organizations or anything like that
afterwards?
Kenneth Miller: I don't think so Tommy, I uhh .. We at that time in the 60's
or whatever, we kind of had our fill of the military. When I was in the Army
the officers lived pretty well. Like your dad (cough) he lived okay compared
to the enlisted people. We didn't have a very good time necessarily, we were
on kind of the bottom of the food chain, so I don't know. I just had enough
of military and for ten or fifteen years I just, you know on rare occasions will
I even talk about it.
Thomas Miller: I guess that kind of ties into one of the last questions. Did
your military experience influence the way that you thought about war,
politics or about the military in general?
�Kenneth Miller: Yes, very much so. I saw how soldiers really lived and what
sacrifices that soldiers make to serve ·this country. Even in peace time the
sacrifice is tremendous. And I got every admiration for them. Today we have
an all-volunteer Army, and I would say that the guys in the Army from the
Private to the General are much better troops than we were back in my day.
And they're better educated, better trained, have better equipment, live
better, eat better, but still it's a sacrifice because they don't.. .much. I've met
many of the families of those who have been killed in Iraq and Iran . Iraq and
Afghanistan, not Iran. (cough) And they .. .Several of these families, they got
nothing. They got nothing. And they're very poor people. You want to reach
out and help them some way. You just... The need is overwhelming.
Thomas Miller: Just overall, how has your service and experience affected
your life in general?
Kenneth Miller: My service?
Thomas Miller: Yes sir, and your experience.
Kenneth Miller: (cough) Well, I certainly grew up in a hurry while I was in
the military. I became a much more mature and responsible person and that
stayed with me my entire life. You learn how to do things for yourself. You
learn how to be a man, what most people would consider to be a man.
Things that come to you sooner (cough) than probably you would have
received them had you not gone into the military. So it gives you an
appreciation for other cultures, and other ways of life that you come into
contact with. It was a big benefit to me. I 'm glad I did it, I'm glad that I
went in, I'm glad I served. I 'm glad that Kenny went in and I was so proud
of him and what he had done. You just can't say enough about that.
Thomas Miller: Is there anything else that you would like to add? That we
haven't really covered in this interview?
Kenneth Miller: Well, not.. .not so much. It was a hard life for three years in
the military. It wasn't easy, but there were exciting times, exciting
moments. We try to forget the hardest of the times, I think all of us in the
�military do that and remember the better times. But it's something that I'm
extremely proud of. Anything else?
Thomas Miller: I think that may be it. I'll have plenty of questions for you
whenever I see you next time.
Kenneth Miller: Ok.
Thomas Miller: Actually, is there anything while you were over in Germany ...
any kind of experience that. .. is the most memorable to you that you just
reflect back on?
Kenneth Miller: While I was in Germany?
Thomas Miller: Yes sir.
Kenneth Miller: Tommy, not so much. I think the combination of times that
we were called out on alert was the times that we were most on edge and
probably will stay with me forever. And they have for this day. Those were
memorable times, even then you know some of your friends didn't come
back because of accidents that can very well happen as you're driving these
big armor vehicles around on snow and ice and everything else. That kind of
sticks with you a little bit. But ... I don't know Tommy, that's kind of about as
memorable as it gets.
Thomas Miller: Yes sir. Alright well thank you Grandpa. Thank you for your
service Grandpa.
Kenneth Miller: Okie dokie. I 'm gonna sign this paper here and I'll get it
back to ya in a few minutes.
Thomas Miller: Yes sir. But thank you so much for everything really.
Kenneth Miller: Ok.
Thomas Miller: I appreciate it.
�Kenneth Miller: You take care Tommy.
Thomas Miller: You too Grandpa. I love you.
Kenneth Miller: Love you.
Thomas Miller: Bye.
Kenneth Miller: Bye.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Appalachian State University American Military History Course Veterans Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
Each semester, the students of the American Military History Course at Appalachian State University conduct interviews with military veterans and record their military experiences in order to create an archive of oral history interviews that are publicly accessible to researchers. The oral histories are permanently available in the Appalachian State University Special Collections. The project is supervised by Dr. Judkin Browning, Associate Professor of History at Appalachian State University and all interviews are transcribed by the student interviewers.
Copyright Notice:
Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project’s audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, University Archives and Records, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC).
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
File size
986 KB
23.8 MB
Format, digital
MP3
Military Branch
military branch (U.S. Army, etc)
U.S. Army
Officer Rank
Officer rank (major, private, etc)
Specialist 4th class
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Miller; Thomas
Miller; Kenneth
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Miller, Thomas
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Miller, Kenneth
Interview Date
10/14/2012
Number of pages
11
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
0:26:01
Date digitized
2/10/2015
Checksum
alphanumeric code
b7aba978dcace17e89007a4a11ce22a3
d617b6ac701f14c80a808907b1f2a46a
Scanned by
Leah McManus
Equipment
Epson Perfection V600
Resolution
300
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal; non-commercial; and educational use; provided that proper citation is used.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
UA.5018. American Military History Course Records
Recording rate
A/V rate (48,000kzh x 16 bit)
48000kzh x 16 bit
Format, original
Document
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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5018_Miller_Kenneth_20121014_transcript_M
5018_Miller_Kenneth_20121014_audio_A
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Kenneth Robert Miller [October 14, 2012]
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
Language
A language of the resource
English
English
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Miller, Thomas
Miller, Kenneth
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a title="UA.5018. American Military History Course Records" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/167" target="_blank">UA.5018. American Military History Course Records</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used.
Description
An account of the resource
Kenneth Miller, born in 1940, enlisted in the army in 1958 because he did not want to go straight to college after high school. However, he still wanted those in-between years to be productive. He was stationed in Gelnhausen, Germany for two years during the Cold War. He never saw combat, but worked as a tank driver.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Miller, Kenneth Robert
Veterans
Cold War
United States
Interviews
1958
3rd Armor Division
Cold War
Fort Hood
Gelnhausen Germany
specialist
tank driver
US Army