Posted on 11/14/2004 1:05:57 PM PST by lizol
Marine Pictured in Photo Unfazed by Fame
PIKEVILLE, Ky. - An eastern Kentucky Marine whose battle-grimed face has quickly become a symbol of the fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah says he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.
But his mother is thrilled. Maxie Webber, of Robinson Creek in eastern Kentucky, said the close-up of Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller let her know that her son was OK.
Webber said she first saw it Wednesday on CBS.
"I just sat here and I thought, that's my son," Webber said. "I couldn't believe it."
The photograph, taken by a Los Angeles Times photographer and transmitted by The Associated Press, has been printed in more than 100 newspapers and shown on network television.
Miller, 20, is shown with smudged camouflage paint and a bloody scratch on his nose, a cigarette drooping from the side of his mouth. He was exhausted and grimy after more than 12 hours of nonstop fighting.
Miller, a graduate of Shelby Valley High School, is serving with Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, scene of fierce battles over the past week.
He didn't know about the photo and his spreading fame until two Los Angeles Times staffers traveling with his unit told him about it.
"I was just smokin' a cigarette and someone takes my picture and it all blows up," Miller told them Friday.
The picture, which appeared in the Times on Wednesday, was taken on the afternoon after Charlie Company entered Fallujah under intense hostile fire.
Miller and his fellow platoon members had spent the day engaged in practically nonstop firefights, fending off snipers and attackers, and hadn't slept in more than 24 hours.
"It was kind of crazy out here at first," Miller says. "No one really knew what to expect. They told us about it all the time, but no one knows for sure until you get here."
He grew up in rural Jonancy, named after his great-great-great grandparents Joe and Nancy Miller, the first settlers in the area. His father, James Miller, is a mechanic and farmer, and the young Miller grew up working crops of potatoes, corn and green beans. His mother is a nurse.
His mother said she stays home as much as possible in case he calls.
"I don't want to miss his call because you never know if that call will be the last one," Webber said.
She said she bought an answering machine in case Miller, the oldest of her three sons, calls while she's out. She has one message on the machine from Aug. 1.
"And when I get lonely, and it's been a few days, I play that tape," Webber said.
Webber said her son's decision to join the Marines has changed the way she thinks about America.
"Until my son went into the Marines, I never really realized what that flag stood for — but now I do," she said.
LOL! I was thinking the same thing, but I didn't dare say it.
I'm the last person to think that; please don't put words in my mouth. What's sad is that this kid has chosen to put himself on an early road to emphysema and/or lung cancer. Three packs/day? That's a lot, especially given what we know about the effects of smoking.
Fine with me if people smoke. It's unbelievably stupid, but people can choose to be stupid AFAIC.
Yeah, he's a pretty handsome fellow.
It's a great shot, a classic. It must feel great to take a picture like this, maybe you never know until it's out there. Like the one at Ground Zero, of the guys raising the flag.
My dear departed father-in-law was a newspaper photog, with the NY Mirror, I wish he was still around to see these great photos.
"I would love the opportunity to tell Kerry what I think of his worthless hide."
O.C., I think you did just take that opportunity, and regardless of what anyone says, I don't think Kerry is stupid, and I think he heard us all.
At one every 15 minutes average, and what? 5-10 mins/cig, when is he not smoking?
And by the time he gets back to civvie life, he's looking at a $400/month habit.
We should be sending the kid nicotine patches, not smokes!
He is hot! The one picture he looks like a cute young man but that pic with battle grime shows a man that has seen it all.
My boss told me that he smoked cigs in high school, his mother was constantly after him to stop.He told me that one the airplane going to Vietnam, he decided to quit and hasn't had once since. I thought gee whiz, that is when I'd be puffing like a chimney.
What will be sad is if he's not one of the lucky ones and all that smoking catches up to him.
I am 56 years old, I started smoking when I was about 15, I quit last year. BUT, when I quit is was too late for me.
Even though I am lucky enough to have a beautiful Bride who has stayed at my side for over 32 years, I have lot's of toys, two great grownup kids and 5 fantastic grandchildren, I am paying dearly for all that smoking. I have emphysema and I can tell you, this disease really changes your quality of life.
I have NOTHING but respect for that Marine and he can smoke all that he wants as far as I am concerned. I am NOT one of those that goes around now and rags on smokers...some reformed smokers can be the worst!!! BUT, I do hope that he quits before he finds himself like me........ living a far lesser life than originally planned.
For me, I would gladly trade all that freedom to smoke that I enjoyed over the years, for what I have now lost in quality of life...but heck, that's just me.
If John Kerry were this man, he would be putting in for a Purple Heart for the nick on his nose.
When I look at this man over there fighting for us I am proud and humbled. I feel for his mother, and the fear she must feel daily. Then I think of the democrats, liberals, and even those among us who talk about saying they are canadian when they are overseas and I get sick. That man's life is in danger for you folks too, and truthfully the whole lot of you don't have what it takes to carry his water.
Cpl James Blake Miller and others like him make me super proud to be an AMERICAN, and if anyone overseas doesn't like it that's just tough.
That's 60 cigs a day. Non combat day of 8 hours sleep leaves 16 hours a day = about 4 cigs each hour or one every 15 minute. I'd say he's definitely a chain smoker.
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If smoking cigarrets gives him some ease, I'll buy him a life-time supply. I think he earned them.
That's 60 cigs a day. Non combat day of 8 hours sleep leaves 16 hours a day = about 4 cigs each hour or one every 15 minute. I'd say he's definitely a chain smoker.
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If smoking cigarrets gives him some ease, I'll buy him a life-time supply. I think he earned them.
When this picture was published on the front page of the Dallas Morning News, a woman wrote a letter to the editor asking if they couldn't have found a non smoking soldier. I thought at the time that this woman must be a liberal, because only a liberal would so completely miss the importance of this picture and what that young man was all about...God bless this young man and all who are serving in our Military...and I hear he needs some more smokes...maybe whoever makes Marlboros will send a few thousand cartons to him...Mary/TX
Yours is one of the most sensible posts I've read.
Really! This is the first time I've ever been on FreeRepublic and wondered if I'd gotten sucked into the DUmmie sewer. Geezzz. I wonder if he has flossed his teeth lately??
No kidding! He needs to stay focused; he can be famous back here at home.
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