"We listened to all the great shows and music on the radio. If Glenn Miller was playing, Shhhhh! Nobody make a noise. Malarkey would kill you. He loved Glenn Miller. Malark got to see him in person on a pass to London during the war." - Bill Guarnere
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Alton Glenn Miller was an American big band trombonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was the best selling recording artist from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best known big bands.
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In 1942, at the peak of his civilian career, Miller decided to join the war effort, forsaking an income of $15,000 to $20,000 per week in civilian life.
At 38, Miller was too old to be drafted and first volunteered for the Navy but was told that they did not need his services
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Miller then wrote to Army Brigadier General Charles Young. He persuaded the Army to accept him so he could, in his own words, "be placed in charge of a modernized Army band"
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His patriotic intention of entertaining the Allied Forces with the fusion of virtuosity and dance rhythms in his music earned him the rank of captain and he was soon promoted to major by August 1944
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Miller was due to fly from the UK to Paris on Dec 14, 1944, to make arrangements to move his entire band there in the near future. Delayed by weather, his plane departed on Dec 15. The single-engine UC-64 Norseman, disappeared while flying over the English Channel.
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He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.
Many conspiracy theories have been put forward over the years since Miller's disappearance. But it is thought the engine of the plane he was in had frozen, as these engines were prone to this.
R.I.P & thank you for the music
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