Ships
- USS Allen (DD-66) Captain from 21 November 1941 · Relieved on 28 September 1942 · He had her at Pearl Harbor
Daniel Byrd Miller was born on 10 March 1905 and made his home in Camden, South Carolina. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in the class of 1926 and remained in the Navy for a full career, retiring as a rear admiral. He died on 28 October 1968.
On 21 November 1941 he took command of Allen at Pearl Harbor. The Sampson-class destroyer was part of the local defense force of the Fourteenth Naval District, patrolling between Honolulu and Pearl Harbor with Schley, Chew, and Ward and looking into small craft in restricted waters. In her first commission her commanding officers had included Samuel Woods Bryant, Henry David Cooke, Jr., Louis Calott Farley, John Edwin Ostrander, Jr., Charles Carroll Soule, Jr., Robert Bruce Crichton, and Percy Austin Decker.
On the morning of 7 December 1941, Allen lay in East Loch, northeast of Ford Island, with Chew alongside and the hulk of the old Baltimore on her other side. Men on deck had already seen aircraft circling over the harbor. At 0755 a plane dove from the east, a bomb struck Arizona, and that battleship burst into flame. Allen went to general quarters. Lieutenant (junior grade) Tritle, gunnery officer and officer of the deck, got ammunition up for the 3-inch guns and the .50-caliber machine guns, and the ship opened fire within about a quarter of an hour. Miller's report of 14 December to the Commander of the Inshore Patrol praised the crew for steady work in a surprise attack and named Chief Torpedoman Krambuhl, Boatswain's Mate Milligan, Electrician's Mate White, and Ship's Cook Kroon for their leadership. Her gunners are credited with a share in bringing down Japanese aircraft over the harbor.
He kept Allen on Hawaiian defense duty through the next summer, with turns to the West Coast. In June 1942 she escorted the submarine Nautilus during the Midway operation, then joined the screen and added her guns to the antiaircraft defense around the island, returning to Pearl Harbor on 6 June. She was back from San Francisco on 31 August. On 28 September 1942 he was relieved by Parke H. Brady. Allen stayed in Hawaiian waters afterward under Homer Howard Nielson, William James Riley, Jr., and James A. Rowe.
As a lieutenant commander he commanded MacKenzie from 21 November 1942 until 1 October 1943. On 16 May 1943, northwest of the Madeira Islands, MacKenzie sank the German submarine U-182 with depth charges. That summer the destroyer took part in the Allied landing on Sicily.
On 14 February 1944 he became commanding officer of Irwin and stayed in her until 3 May 1945, operating with the carrier forces in the western Pacific. On 24 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the light carrier Princeton was burning from a bomb hit and was torn by further explosions while Japanese aircraft were still attacking. Miller placed Irwin close alongside, and her crew helped fight the fire and take off survivors. For that action he received the Silver Star as a commander. The citation honored his shiphandling, his leadership, and his resolve to finish the rescue under explosions and air attack. His wartime operations also included the Marianas, Iwo Jima, Luzon, and Okinawa.
He also received the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Navy Unit Commendation, and he held the Silver Life-Saving Medal. From 30 June 1945 he served in Charleston as assistant chief of staff for personnel and director of discipline for the Sixth Naval District. In March 1948, then a captain, he was ordered to San Francisco to take command of the Navy transport President Jackson, reporting on 9 April. He was the son of Mrs. W. J. Mayfield of Camden. He had married Dorothy Hart, and they had a daughter, Danelle, who was to go west with them while he had the transport. He closed his service as a rear admiral.