Ships
- USS Trathen (DD-530) Captain from 28 April 1944
John Raymond Millett was born in Massachusetts on 30 January 1912 and later made his home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with the class of 1936 and was commissioned an ensign on 4 June 1936. He advanced to lieutenant (junior grade) on 4 June 1939 and to lieutenant on 30 June 1942. In wartime he was made a temporary lieutenant commander on 1 May 1943 and a temporary commander on 15 March 1944.
On 28 April 1944 Commander Millett became captain of the Fletcher-class destroyer Trathen (DD-530). Bethlehem had built the ship at San Francisco. She had been launched in October 1942 and commissioned on 28 May 1943, named for Lieutenant Commander James Trathen of the Civil War Navy. Millett relieved Fondville Lee Tedder, who had held the ship since January. The first commanding officer had been Alvord John Greenacre.
His first weeks in command put Trathen off northern New Guinea. On 17 May 1944 the destroyer took part in Operation Straightline, the landings at Arara and on Wakde Island. Millett’s ship worked with the other destroyers of the fire-support force that covered the troops going ashore.
That autumn he commanded Trathen in operations against Japanese forces from 18 to 29 October 1944. For his service in those days the Navy awarded him the Legion of Merit, citing meritorious conduct as commanding officer of the destroyer.
Millett stayed in Trathen through the rest of the Pacific war. His tour lasted nearly twenty-one months and ended when the ship was decommissioned on 18 January 1946. Over her World War II service the destroyer earned eight battle stars. He died in 1983.