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N0KFQ > TODAY 16.12.11 00:38l 61 Lines 2784 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Dec 15
Path: IZ3LSV<IK2XDE<DB0RES<DK0WUE<7M3TJZ<JE7YGF<F6CDD<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 111215/2216Z 15112@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.0.4
Dec 15, 1944:
Legendary bandleader Glenn Miller disappears over the English
Channel
General James Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces
(USAAF), hero of the daring "Doolittle Raid" on mainland Japan
and later the unified commander of Allied air forces in Europe in
World War II, offered the following high praise to one of his
staff officers in 1944: "Next to a letter from home, Captain
Miller, your organization is the greatest morale builder in the
European Theater of Operations." The Captain Miller in question
was the trombonist and bandleader Glenn Miller, the biggest star
on the American pop-music scene in the years immediately
preceding World War II and a man who set aside his brilliant
career right at its peak in 1942 to serve his country as leader
of the USAAF dance band. It was in that capacity that Captain
Glenn Miller boarded a single-engine aircraft at an airfield
outside of London on December 15, 1944_an aircraft that would go
missing over the English Channel en route to France for a
congratulatory performance for American troops that had recently
helped to liberate Paris.
It would be difficult to overstate the magnitude of Glenn
Miller's success in the years immediately proceeding America's
entry into World War II. Though he was a relatively unspectacular
instrumentalist himself_he'd played the trombone in various
prominent orchestras but never distinguished himself as a
performer_Miller the bandleader came to dominate the latter
portion of the swing era on the strength of his disciplined
arrangements and an innovation in orchestration that put the
high-pitched clarinet on the melody line doubled by the saxophone
section an octave below. This trademark sound helped the Glenn
Miller Orchestra earn an unprecedented string of popular hits
from 1939 to 1942, including the iconic versions of numbers like
"In The Mood" (1939), "Tuxedo Junction" (1939) and "Chattanooga
Choo Choo" (1941), as well as Miller's self-penned signature
tune, "Moonlight Serenade" (1939).
The Glenn Miller Orchestra played its last-ever concert under
Miller's direction on September 27, 1942, in Passaic, New Jersey,
and shortly thereafter, Miller entered the Army. After nearly two
years spent stateside broadcasting a weekly radio program called
I Sustain The Wings out of New York City, Miller formed a new
50-piece USAAF dance band and departed for England in the summer
of 1944, giving hundreds of performances to Allied troops over
the next six months before embarking on his fateful trip to
France on this day in 1944.
The wreckage of Miller's plane was never found. His official
military status remains Missing in Action.
73, K.O. and Billie
"On the Road Again... "
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