PFC Lewis Franklin Miller

courtesy of Kimberly Parker Payne

PFC Lewis Franklin Miller was born 31 Jan 1908 in Vinita, Oklahoma. He was the 4th of 6 children born to Peter Franklin and Cora Dell (Reed) Miller. The family moved to Cooper County, Missouri before 1920 and had settled in Boonville in that county by 1930. His father had farmed but then did odd jobs before farming for somebody else (as did Lewis at the time). About 1935, Lewis was married to Helen L. Watson. The couple would have 2 daughters by 1939. Lewis worked in highway or street construction in 1940 reporting a 1939 income of $333 and paying $6 a month rent for his family of 4.

Lewis was drafted in December 1943. Sent to Europe after his initial military training, he was transferred from the replacement depot to K Company 116th Infantry on 27 Jul 1944. PFC Miller was killed in action on 29 Aug 1944.

PFC Miller was repatriated in 1948 and re-interred in Walnut Grove Cemetery in Boonville, Missouri where he now rests forever next to Helen.