MILLER, Halsey J

Servicenumber:

32561864

Age:

Not available 

Born:

1914, New Jersey

Hometown:

Essex County, New Jersey

Family:

Not available 

Rank:

Sergeant

Function:

Not available 

Regiment:

Not available 

Battalion:

285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion  

Division – Transport:

Not available 

Company – Squadron:

Battery B

Unit – Group:

-

Plane data:
(Serialnumber, MACR, etc.)

-

Date of death:

17 December 1944

Status:

POW/DNB

Place of death:

Malmedy, België

Spot:

At the confluence of the Warche and Warchenne at Baugnez Crossroads, Province of Liege Malmedy, België

Awards:

Purple Heart

Gravenumber:

Plot A, Row 9, Grave 45

Cemetery:

American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle

Biography:

-

Other information:

The Malmédy Massacre
In the morning of December 17, 1944 from 6.00 until 9.00 AM, B Battery of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion closed their installation at Schevenhütte, Germany to go to their new position in Luxembourg. They departed in convoy about 9.00 AM and stopped for lunch at 11.45 AM just north of Malmédy, Belgium. After passing through Malmédy they moved south toward Ligneuville and St. Vith, Belgium. They passed the crossroads village known as Baugnez, approximately 12.45 to 1.00 PM ... At that point they encountered the lead panzers of "Kampfgruppe Peiper" ...
At 1.30 PM the Germans began assembling their prisoners in an open field approximately sixty to eighty yards from the crossroads on the westside of road N23. There would be 111 Prisoners of War in the total group.
In the next few minutes one of the most horrible scenes of the entire war unfolded ... A German officer was standing in a SPW on the left, he raised his pistol and took a slow deliberate aim and then fired at the group. The Germans in the two SPW's started yelling and firing machine guns at the prisoners ...