Lt. Col. USAF (ret) Earl Harrison Miller joined his wife in Heaven on Oct. 23, 2019. Born in Detroit on Aug. 1, 1923, and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, he graduated from the Ford Motor Trade School and became an instructor as a tool and die maker. At the age of 19 he embarked on the experience of a lifetime as a P-51D pilot stationed in England with the 384th Fighter Squadron, part of the 364th Fighter Group of the 8th Air Force. Col. Miller was awarded the coveted Distinguished Flying Cross and six Air Medals for his heroism and selfless acts of courage in defending the bombers from Nazi fighter aircraft. He had many exciting stories to tell. After the War, he returned to Dearborn and met Anna Ruth Horst. They married in Feb. 1946 at the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Despite their plans for civilian life, the Air Force soon recalled him to become a pilot at Luke AFB in Arizona. During his 27 years of active duty, he was stationed at K-55 (Osan-Ni) AFB, Korea; Montauk Point, NY; and McGuire AFB, NJ During the Cold War, he and his family were transferred to Birkenfeld Air Force Station, Germany, where he controlled the jets that protected Berlin and West Germany from Russian threats. Their final military assignment was to Mather AFB, CA, where he retired in 1968. After a year of travels to Australia and other points in Asia, Earl bought a farm in the Iuka, IL, area in 1972 to settle down and become a "gentleman farmer." He and Ruth remained on the farm and active until her death in 2018, at which time he moved to Huntsville, AL, to live with his older son, Paul and his wife Felicia. Earl was recognized as a treasure by the Forever Young Senior Veterans organization and they took him back to Europe with his two sons in September 2019 as part of the celebrations honoring the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. He considered it a trip of a lifetime. Earl and Ruth were parents of daughter Linda Austin (David); sons Paul (Felicia) and Randall (Kimberly); and had grandchildren Sarah, Kate, and Patrick; and great-grandchildren Nicholas and Allison. Earl and Ruth were senior members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Iuka, where Earl will be buried next to Ruth. The Rogers-Atkins Funeral Home in Salem, IL, is in charge of arrangements.