Posted on 11/18/2004 5:26:11 AM PST by Max Combined
He is the 24th Houston-area serviceman to die in Iraq
PEARLAND - A Pearland man was killed in action in Al Anbar province, becoming the 24th Houston-area serviceman to have died in Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Marine Lance Cpl. Billy Miller, 22, died Monday. Marine officials would not provide details of his death.
In January he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He went to Iraq on June 27, a Marine spokesman said.
His mother, Susie Miller, said he decided as a high school sophomore that he wanted to join the Marines.
"He was proud of what the Marines stood for," Susie Miller said Wednesday night. "He thought freedom was something you had to fight for."
She said her son died from "small-arms fire" but did not elaborate. Al Anbar province includes the insurgent strongholds Fallujah and Ramadi.
Miller's family last heard from him earlier this month in a letter.
Their last conversation was by phone in a conference call Oct. 6. Miller was in Iraq, his parents were in California, and his sister was at home in the Houston area.
"We talked for an hour," said his sister, Sabrina Blankenship. " ... We could tell he was kind of down."
Blankenship said that while her brother was still proud of fighting for freedom, he was tired and ready to come home. She said he was was scheduled to leave Iraq in March and complete his military commitment in May.
He wanted to go to college to study psychology or psychiatry, she said, and "wear a suit and tie to work."
Miller's family said that beneath the proud Marine and spicy personality was a giver, a young man who wasn't afraid to show his love.
"He cared," Susie Miller said. "He always wanted to help people ... He was affectionate when he was a child. He would crawl right up into my lap and hug me and kiss me for no apparent reason."
Miller, who would have been 23 on Nov. 24, was named after an uncle, his mother's brother, who was also a Marine.
Miller will be buried in Arkansas next to his uncle, who died at 27.
"They never met," Susie Miller said, pausing. "Well, he's probably met him by now."
Blankenship said her brother was at times a "wild child" but was a "great uncle."
"He always wanted to spend time with my kids," she said. "He was always offering to watch them."
Students and faculty at Pearland High School were stunned Wednesday with the announcement that one of its former students was killed.
"We knew it would be a matter of time before it would happen to one of our former students," said teacher Robert Layne, who taught Miller world history during his sophomore year. "I just never thought it would be Billy Miller."
Layne remembered Miller as a "tall, lanky, blond kid who was always happy-go-lucky."
Miller joined the Marine Corps in June 2001, not long after he graduated. His first tour was in Spain, where he stayed for 21 months.
PRAYERS FOR THE FAMILY!
GODSPEED!
There is no terrorist (wounded or not) whose life is worth anything close to what this kid's was. I wish our Marines were under orders to kill everything that moved. Lord, open the gates for another Marine.
God has Blessed this young man & his family. He has reported to Chesty & told St. Peter "Another Marine reporting, I've spent my time in he!!" He will be standing post somewhere in Heaven!
Taps ping. Semper Fi, Marine.
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