A Famous Fight, An Unsung Hero

Baltimore Sun ^ | 09/28/03 | Tom Bowman

[jaykay]

Iraq: During one of the war's bloodiest battles, a young private saved fellow soldiers and then kept cool amid weeks of captivity. His name is Patrick Miller.

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Pfc. Jessica Lynch is the celebrity soldier of the Iraq war. Pfc. Patrick Miller, a member of the same company captured with her in a ferocious firefight, remains one of its unsung heroes.

[jaykay]

There has been a lot of complaining about the attention focused on Jessica Lynch, while other soldiers, such as Pfc. Patrick Miller have received little notice. This is a faily good article about Pfc. Miller, one of the best about the 507th ambush I've seen. Too bad it has to be excerpted. The Lynch complainers have managed to run the Lynch bashing threads up to 1000+ posts. It'll be interesting to see if they have as much interest in Pfc. Miller.

[jaykay]

whoops!

faily=fairly

shouldn't try spelling before 2nd pot of coofee...cofffe...cofeee...

[exnavy]

He sounds like a typical good ole boy redneck, I love him. And God bless him!!!!

[jocon307]

Yes, coffee is good.

Jessica Lynch made a good story, it captured people's imaginations, she certainly didn't seek the glory heaped (maybe unfairly) on her.

And this fellow, Miller, he did get a silver star. Deservedly so, but celebrity is not an award bestowed by the military or the government, it is just a quirk.

It is unfortunate that there are bad feelings resulting from this. It makes me fearful, like so many other things, that Americans just have no backbone anymore, we just all have to feel real good all the time, time, time. I think Rush Limbaugh is right when he says the Oprah Winfrey show has done a lot of damage to this nation.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Considering that some of her comrades died and were buried near that hospital, I think none of us would eagerly volunteer to win the lottery and go through what Lynch did. And unfortunately that is not a unique experience in war. That's why war is identified with the nether region . . .

It is beyond peradventure that Lynch's picture would have won a "Miss America" contest among all American MIAs in Iraq. And it would be extreme naivete to suppose that TV doesn't love a pretty face. We all do, that's why they're called "pretty."

Whoever said life was fair?

[billhilly]

An outstanding article, and an outstanding young man. Even if his story had been told instead of PFC Lynch's it wouldn't have gotten much attention, because it does not fit the media's concept of heroic. In their minds, only women and minorities merit hero status.

Can you imagine a movie about a gawky, tobacco chewing, white boy?

[solzhenitsyn]

"Shoshana yelled at him, 'Get down, Miller! Get down! You're going to get hit!'" said another soldier, Spc. Edgar Hernandez, describing how Miller charged toward the Iraqis. Hernandez recalled hearing automatic fire from Iraqi AK-47s and the single shots of Miller's M-16 rifle.

As a prisoner of war, Miller badgered his interrogators for three weeks, singing an off-key rendition of country singer Toby Keith's anti-terrorist song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue."

Hey, I love this guy!

I still can't comprehend all the hostility directed toward Jessica Lynch by posters at a patriotic website. She hasn't claimed to be a war hero, and she has a perfect right to write a book about her experiences. I'm glad she was willing to go in harm's way in the service of her country, and I'm glad she made it back home.

jaykay, thanks for posting this gripping story about PFC Patrick Miller, a true American hero.

[Thebaddog]

I think I remember pictures of him from the video shot of the POW's right after capture. Does anybody have copies of those shots in file?

[milemark]

[Thebaddog]

Thanks. That's who I thought it was. He sure deserves our respect. He's a hero to me and it says a lot about our military that his training lead him so well. Hopefully he and his family will reap some reward for what he did for us.

He did this with a wife and two kids at home waiting for him to return. I couldn't do what he did.

[VOA]

As a prisoner of war, Miller badgered his interrogators for three weeks, singing an
off-key rendition of country singer Toby Keith's anti-terrorist song,
"Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue."

One of my large freeerpublic regrets:
Not saving the photo of Miller being happily shocked when Toby Keith joined
him on stage to sing the song at a small town gathering in Kansas.

The photo of Miller wailing out the song in his uniform, Keith in profile with
a huge smile, and some "Bubba" in baseball cap just behind them screaming out a
lung-busting hollar...
priceless

[VOA]

"Shoshana yelled at him, 'Get down, Miller! Get down! You're going to get hit!'"
said another soldier, Spc. Edgar Hernandez, describing how Miller charged toward the Iraqis.

I'd say that Miller's comrades have done a first-rate job of comporting themselves
on the public stage. The NBC special on them was really good and humbling to see
what good folks we have in our military.

As for Pvt. Lynch, she's just been a pawn of public celebrity and who knows
what sort of machinations in a military with factions pushing to get more female
personnel killed in the combat zones.
I wish her well and pray for her continued recovery.
I suffered with a single broken bone in my foot last summer...I can barely imagine her travails.

[VOA]

Miller will be profiled tonight (11-9-03) on CBS's Sixty Minutes...

[VOA]

Final reminder-bump:
Miller will be profiled tonight (11-9-03) on CBS's Sixty Minutes...

[#3Fan]

Miller did great let alone the fact he was combat support, not combat!