memorial headstone in Memorial Section H at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. In the spring of 1944, the war in Europe was nearing a turning point. While in Pollacks band, he wrote music of his own. Glenn Thomas Miller. [1][2] He added the second n to "Glenn" during high school. [123] The Official Glenn Miller Orchestra for Scandinavia has been led by Jan Slottens since 2010. Lois was the daughter of Glenn Alexander Miller and Bertha Belle Brown Miller. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. When he graduated in 1921, he decided a professional music career was his calling. He passed away in 2012. [34] During his time with Pollack, he wrote several arrangements. Maroons, the high school football team that won the Northern Colorado American Football Conference in 1920. [4], Miller, US Army (Air Corps) earned a Bronze Star Medal, World War II Victory Medal; American Campaign Medal; European, African and Middle Eastern Campaign Medal; and Marksman Badge with Carbine and Pistol Bars. The band appeared in movies like Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives. It was to be aboard a Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman assigned to him and piloted by Flight Officer John Stuart Morgan. [4][16] The marker has etchings of a trombone and the patches of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) and the Army Air Forces (AAF) on it. Glenn Miller: America's Musical Hero, World War II Veterans article series, Pentagram, Department of Defense, Washington, DC,1993. His family moved several times in. Glenn's parents bought a house in Clarinda at 601 S. 16th St. in 1902, and Glenn's . Alton Glenn Miller was born in Iowa in 1904, moving around with his family several times before settling in Colorado, where Miller graduated from high school in 1921. His name is engraved as Major Alton Glenn Miller, US Army (Air Corps) on his Government-issued (G.I.) [107] Future television and film composer Henry Mancini was the band's pianist and one of the arrangers. Every summer since 1996, the city of Fort Morgan, Colorado, has hosted a public event called the Glenn Miller SwingFest. He was 82 years of age. Miller graduated from Fort Morgan High School, where he played football and other sports, was on the yearbook staff, was in the orchestra, and formed his own band with classmates. Ray McKinley dance orchestra), Uptown Hall (Sgt. Born in Butler, Sept. 20, 1939, to Wendell and Mary Ann Miller, he was the youngest of three children. Portrait of bandleader Glenn Miller posing with his trombone. [26][30] For two years, Miller was one of the editors of his own high school yearbook, "Memories". As a precaution, the Miller organization had to prerecord eighty hours of broadcasts prior to moving, in addition to their normal schedule. In 1941's Sun Valley Serenade they were major members of the cast, which also featured comedian Milton Berle, and Dorothy Dandridge with the Nicholas Brothers in the show-stopping song-and-dance number, "Chattanooga Choo Choo". And that's about all there is to it. Miller would successfully attempt to fuse jazz, popular music and light classics, including strings, which was an evolutionary step beyond his civilian band. [103] The Airmen of Note and the Army Blues had performances elsewhere during the day. [111] Beneke was struggling with how to expand the Miller sound and also how to achieve success under his own name. [36], During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Miller worked as a freelance trombonist in several bands. He realized that his future was in arranging and composing. He arranged and played music with acclaimed artists making songs like If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight and Harlem Chapel Chimes classics. Glenn Miller of the Glenn Miller Orchestra and his drummer perform in circa 1940 in New York. [60], On February 10, 1942, RCA Victor presented Miller with the first gold record for "Chattanooga Choo Choo". He and Lona, his wife of 42 years, have a son and two daughters. [ Alton] Glenn Miller / 0505273 / US Army Air Force [Forces] - W. W. II / Born- Clarinda, Iowa - / March 1, 1904 / Missing in Action [ / Died] / Europe, Dec. 15, 1944 / 1943-1944 / 418th A.A.F.T.T.C. "[4][15][25][24], On July 9, 1944, Millers 51-piece orchestra and production personnel started broadcasting a series of musical programs over the AEFP under BBC technical supervision. He is survived by : his wife Beverly Williams Good; his children, Glenn Good (Stefanie), Trevor Good (Alison), Michelle Maddox (Garrett) and Audrey Phillips (Benjamin); his sisters, Doris Shoemaker (Kenneth) and Melba Miller; his grandchildren, Martha Good, Harris Good, Graham Good, Zoe Good, Trina Good, Eliza Good, Damian Good, Tessa Good, (pp. 24)[99][3] On August 12, 1942, Miller sent a three-page letter to General Charles Young of the Army Service Forces, outlining his interest in streamlining modern military music and to express his sincere desire to do a real job for the Army that is not actuated by any personal draft problem. The legacy also continues through The United States Air Forces in Europe Band,[4][125] stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. [93] He never saw Miller as leading a swinging jazz band, but DeFranco is extremely fond of certain aspects of the Glenn Miller style. 0505273), Air Corps, United States Army, for meritorious service in connection with military operations as Commander of the Army Air Force Band (Special), from 9 July 1944 to 15 December 1944. On behalf of the Glenn Miller Estate and with the full cooperation of American and British authorities, all relevant and many new documents concerning the circumstances of the accident were discovered and published, including the inquiry findings of January 20, 1945. [75] After Miller died, the Miller estate maintained an unfriendly stance toward critics who derided the band during his lifetime. (pp. His life story got the big screen treatment in 1954, and Turner Classic Movies pulled it out of the archives on Wednesday (November 22). [109] A website concerning the history of the Hollywood Palladium noted "[even] as the big band era faded, the Tex Beneke and Glenn Miller Orchestra concert at the Palladium resulted in a record-breaking crowd of 6,750 dancers. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. [4][144] The headquarters of the United States Air Forces in Europe Band at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is named Glenn Miller Hall.[4]. Following a one-month ASC training course at Fort Meade, Maryland, he transferred to the Army Air Forces (AAF) on November 25, 1942, by order of General Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold. He received a one-month delay to settle his business affairs. He recalled always despising his first name, preferring to be known as Glenn from an early age. While studying under celebrated musician Joseph Schillinger, he composed his greatest song to date, Moonlight Serenade. While touring with several groups, he was mentored by professional musicians like Ben Pollack and Victor Young. Shenkle, Kathy. The map below shows the places where the ancestors of the famous person lived. [99] (Glenn Miller Declassified, pp. Shenkle, Kathy. [122] The official Glenn Miller Orchestra for Europe has been led by Wil Salden since 1990. He. Miller would form and direct the Second AAF Radio Production Unit and Orchestra, broadcasting and recording from New York. As the GMA and especially the GMBS have had to navigate, the "greatest generation" who saw, heard and danced to Glenn Miller's music were passing the baton to their children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren. [4][103] One of Miller's trombones was displayed on stage. Former President Donald Trump will "sell out" members of his own family if he's indicted, including his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, former federal prosecutor Glenn . In the fall of 1919, he joined the F.M.H.S. In 1928, when his music career was picking up in New York and income was stable, he married his college sweetheart, Helen Burger. "[3] He is listed as Alton G. Miller in the Army Air Forces section of the Tablets of the Missing in Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in Cambridge, England. [120] The official Glenn Miller Orchestra for the United States is currently under the direction of Nick Hilscher. Undated photograph, circa 1940's. However, in 1979, a judge ordered the executor to return $800,000 to Jonnie and Steven. Wendell met his wife Eunice, her senior year of high school. Miller also famously got into a musical argument with Army purists by performing marching arrangements of jazz, including The Saint Louis Blues and Blues in the Night, as opposed to traditional Sousa military marches. He and Lona, his wife of 42 years, have a son and two daughters. Johnny Desmond (vocalist with orchestra directed by M/Sgt. "[89] In an interview with George T. Simon in 1948, Sinatra lamented the inferior quality of music he was recording in the late '40s, in comparison with "those great Glenn Miller things"[90] from eight years earlier. In the Mood belts out and doesn't stop for anything. It became his signature theme, "Moonlight Serenade". During the war, Glenn Miller's music was more than just entertainment for Americans far from home, even after his tragic disappearance in 1944. [97][98][15], He first applied for a commission in the US Navy but was turned down. He also appeared over WAPI radio Birmingham, performing with the Rhythmaires, a 15-piece base band. [57] Miller's success in 1939 culminated with an appearance at Carnegie Hall on October 6, with Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, and Fred Waring also on the schedule. 150156)[3][99], In England, the band kept an extensive schedule of personal appearances at primarily American air bases. 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