ENEMY MORTAR CLAIMS MARINE

Pfc. Wayne Miller is 61st Shelby Countian To Die In Vietnam War

by K.W. Cook

   A young Memphis Marine who "just felt better in the service" was fatally wounded 
by a mortar explosion on his 40th day of combat in Vietnam.
   Pfc. Wayne T. Miller, 24, of 245 South Watkins, died Sunday of the wounds in a DaNang
hospital and became 61st war casualty from Shelby County.
   He wrote to his mother, Mrs. Elinor Hoffman Miller Barrow, last week that he
had "rather be outside the perimeter fighting.  You can kill more Viet Cong out in the hills and forests."
   It was out in the hills and forests that a mortar exploded near him Saturday, inflicting wounds.
He died the next day.
   Private Miller enlisted in the Marines last December in California where he had been working about a year.
Before going to California, he had served four years in the Air Force and attended Memphis State University
after his release from active duty.
   "He didn't have the money to finish college and he went into the Marines because 
he just felt better in service," said his brother, Gary Miller of the South Watkins address.
   Private Miller was graduated from Memphis Tech High in 1960.  He delivered newspapers while in high school, 
was manager of Tech's basketball team and took part in tryouts for the Golden Gloves tournament in 1959.
   He leaves two other brothers, Arthur E. Miller, Jr., of Memphis and Bruce Miller of 1640 York; 
a sister, Mrs. Sandra Johnson of El Sobrante, Calif.; and his father, Arthur E. Miller of 1640 York.
   Arrangements are incomplete.

-MEMPHIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL
March, 1967