Ships
- USS Prichett (DD-561) Captain from 20 May 1945
John Frederick Miller Jr. was a United States Navy officer from Basin, Wyoming, a graduate of the Naval Academy in the class of 1939, who commanded the Fletcher-class destroyer Prichett from 20 May 1945 to 14 March 1946. In his first month in command she served as a fighter-director ship on the radar picket line off Okinawa, work for which he received the Legion of Merit. On the night of 29–30 July 1945, while standing by the damaged destroyer Callaghan, she was hit by a kamikaze. Earlier in the war, as a lieutenant on the staff of a flag officer in the South Pacific, he had received the Silver Star. He retired as a captain.
The 1939 Lucky Bag gives his home as Basin, Wyoming, in the Big Horn Basin, and his nickname as "Moose." The Military Times Hall of Valor gives the same town. The sources examined here do not give a birth date, name his parents, or describe his family; his name, with "Jr.," shows that his father bore it too.
The yearbook begins: "Though 'Moose' came from the sagebrush state of Wyoming and more used to horses than boats, he became an ardent sailor in a very short time." His one big worry was a foreign-language course, and "at the end of each week, one could invariably find him scanning" the list of grades and "exclaiming, 'Shucks, hit it again!'" He had "a great yen for tinkering": "many afternoons found him dismembering a watch or clock or building flying (?) models of airplanes." He might "almost be classed as a redmike, yet if anyone needed a blind drag, he was right there." He was not an outstanding athlete, but "one of the most enthusiastic supporters of all battalion sports," and the writers closed with the remark that "no one will ever forget Fred's pleasant smile and fine military brace." His activities were battalion crew, cross-country, the company small-bore rifle team, boxing, and one stripe.
He graduated in 1939 and was commissioned an ensign. The Silver Star citation, which carries no date, shows that he reached the rank of lieutenant and joined the staff of a flag officer commanding task forces and task units "in action against the enemy during numerous actions in the South Pacific." The sources examined here do not name the flag officer, the ship, or the dates. His service number, 0-82571, appears on both citations.
The Silver Star citation, issued by the Commander in Chief, Pacific, says that Lieutenant Miller "displayed marked ability in maintaining effective communications under difficult conditions and excellent judgment in taking prompt action upon numerous contacts with the enemy." It is the only description of his earlier war, and it is general.
On 20 May 1945, as a lieutenant commander, he took command of the Prichett. The ship had been on radar picket duty at Okinawa since March, and on 3 April 1945, under a previous captain, she had been holed by a bomb near the fantail; she was repaired at Guam and returned to the picket line on 7 May. Under Miller she took up the fighter-director station again. The Legion of Merit citation, for the period 20 May to 21 June 1945, says he led his ship "with such courage, skill in combat and determination" that she was able "to perform the vital and hazardous duty of Fighter-Director ship on Radar Picket station for a total of nineteen days." In that period "three enemy planes were destroyed by her combat air patrol and two destroyed and others damaged by her gunfire without casualty to herself or crew." The citation adds that "his devotion to duty was an inspiration to his officers and men enabling them to continue their superb performance of duty throughout the long action."
The second hit came at the end of July. On the night of 29–30 July, according to the Navy's ship history, she was standing by the Callaghan, a destroyer struck by a kamikaze, when another suicide pilot came for the Prichett. She took him under fire at five thousand yards, but he came on, and he crashed into the sea some six feet off her port side. The explosion bowed in the hull and damaged her superstructure, port depth-charge racks, and radio and power leads. She remained for another two hours to pick up the Callaghan's survivors. The Navy Unit Commendation for the Prichett says that "although herself hit by a Kamikaze while rendering aid," she "stood by the CALLAGHAN for three additional hours to furnish protection and assist in recovering survivors." The citations examined here do not say where Miller was during those hours, and no action report by him has been found.
The commendation covers two periods, 24 March to 7 April and 8 May to 13 August 1945. He remained in command through the Japanese surrender, until 14 March 1946.
He stayed in the Navy and retired as a captain, according to the Military Times Hall of Valor. The year of his retirement, his later posts and any marriage or children were not found in the sources examined here. His death date and place are also unrecorded there.
What survives of him is a handful of paragraphs: the yearbook's picture of a Wyoming boy who took things apart and was easy to like, a staff lieutenant's citation that praises his handling of communications, and the long picket-line citation for a ship that was damaged twice from the air and stayed on station to pick up men.