Franklin Douglas Miller

He held off repeated attacks to save his wounded patrol men.

Franklin Douglas Miller was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on 27 January 1945. He entered the Army, completed infantry and airborne training, and qualified for Special Forces. Before his Medal of Honor action, he served in cavalry and airborne units in Vietnam and became a reconnaissance team leader with the 5th Special Forces Group.

In Kontum Province, South Vietnam, on 5 January 1970, a booby trap wounded members of his American-Vietnamese reconnaissance patrol. Staff Sergeant Miller treated the casualties and directed the team toward safer ground. He stayed behind alone and repelled two attacks before rejoining his men.

Miller arranged an evacuation and led the patrol through enemy-controlled jungle to a bomb crater suitable for extraction. Enemy fire drove off the helicopter. Seriously wounded himself, with every patrol member a casualty, he again fought from an exposed position until a relief force arrived. President Richard Nixon presented him with the Medal of Honor at the White House on 15 June 1971.

Miller continued his Army career after Vietnam. He served with cavalry and airborne formations and worked as a chief instructor in Hawaii, passing his combat experience to other soldiers. He also served in South Korea during peacetime. He retired in 1992 as a command sergeant major. His decorations included the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, six Purple Hearts and an Air Medal.

After retirement, he worked as a benefits counselor for the Department of Veterans Affairs in St. Petersburg, Florida. He died on 30 June 2000.

Medal of Honor citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. S/Sgt. Miller, 5th Special Forces Group, distinguished himself while serving as team leader of an American-Vietnamese long-range reconnaissance patrol operating deep within enemy-controlled territory. Leaving the helicopter insertion point, the patrol moved forward on its mission. Suddenly, one of the team members tripped a hostile booby trap which wounded four soldiers. S/Sgt. Miller, knowing that the explosion would alert the enemy, quickly administered first aid to the wounded and directed the team into positions across a small stream bed at the base of a steep hill. Within a few minutes, S/Sgt. Miller saw the lead element of what he estimated to be a platoon-size enemy force moving toward his location. Concerned for the safety of his men, he directed the small team to move up the hill to a more secure position. He remained alone, separated from the patrol, to meet the attack. S/Sgt. Miller singlehandedly repulsed two determined attacks by the numerically superior enemy force and caused them to withdraw in disorder. He rejoined his team, established contact with a forward air controller, and arranged the evacuation of his patrol. However, the only suitable extraction location in the heavy jungle was a bomb crater some 150 meters from the team location. S/Sgt. Miller reconnoitered the route to the crater and led his men through the enemy-controlled jungle to the extraction site. As the evacuation helicopter hovered over the crater to pick up the patrol, the enemy launched a savage automatic-weapons and rocket-propelled-grenade attack against the beleaguered team, driving off the rescue helicopter. S/Sgt. Miller led the team in a valiant defense which drove back the enemy in its attempt to overrun the small patrol. Although seriously wounded and with every man in his patrol a casualty, S/Sgt. Miller moved forward to again singlehandedly meet the hostile attackers. From his forward exposed position, S/Sgt. Miller gallantly repelled two attacks by the enemy before a friendly relief force reached the patrol location. S/Sgt. Miller's gallantry, intrepidity in action, and selfless devotion to the welfare of his comrades are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.