Remember...
James Ray Miller
1948-1968
"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."
Joseph Campbell
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Remember...James Ray Miller
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James Ray Miller was born January 29, 1948, in Kenna, Jackson County, West Virginia. His father was Lawrence F. Miller, and his mother was Frances Miller Agosti. He had one sister, Myrna Fields, and one brother, Lawrence Miller. After his mother remarried, he had three half-brothers, Lando, Roy, and David Agosti along with two half-sisters Joy and Deborah Agosti.
James Ray Miller grew up in Kenna, which is an unincorporated community in southern Jackson County. The town was named after U.S. senator and West Virginia native John E. Kenna. In the United States during the 1950s up until the late 1960s the Civil Rights movement was gaining more momentum. One of the most prominent leaders of the movement was Martin Luther King Jr., who was killed on April 4, 1968.
The Vietnam War was sparked after a French-held garrison in Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, fell after an extended siege led by Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh. Not all of Vietnam shared the same opinions on communism, which caused the country to split into North and South Vietnam, with the North having a superior military force. In fear of communism spreading, the United States entered the war in March 1965 and supplied military forces to aid South Vietnam, increasing the need for more U.S. soldiers. In July 1965, President Johnson called for 50,000 more ground troops to be sent to Vietnam, increasing the draft to 35,000 each month.
James Ray Miller was drafted into the United States Army via the Selective Service process in 1968. His military occupation skill (MOS) was 11B: Infantryman, and his service number was 51713839. After his basic and infantry training, he was sent to Vietnam on March 10, 1968. He was assigned to Charlie Company, 4th Battalion (Mechanized), 23rd Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. James was known as "Red" by several members in the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company.
The 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, was a fully mechanized battalion that used Armored Tracked Vehicles also known as Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) in order to transport soldiers and provide cover from heavy fire. In September of 1968, the 25th Infantry Division's main theater of action switched to the region between Tay Ninh City and Dau Tieng. ("Vietnam Tomahawks," 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment website, accessed 22 February 2022, https://tomahawkveterans.com.)
On September 14, 1968, Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry, engaged the North Vietnamese Army's 1st Battalion, 272nd Regiment, some 12 kilometers east of Tay Ninh City, killing 33 enemy soldiers.
Approximately six kilometers west of Dau Tieng, mechanized troopers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry, located an enemy element of the 275th Regiment while patrolling Route 239, resulting in the deaths of another twenty-five enemy soldiers. The 275th Regiment struck back on September 16, attacking the forward outpost that the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry, had established in the Ben Cui Plantation. That assault, plus another one on September 17 and a third on September 20, failed, costing the enemy several dozen more killed. On September 16, 1968, the 174th Regiment attacked units from the 4th Battalion, 23d Infantry, and the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry, which were operating along Route 26 near the Cau Khoi Plantation.
3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry was ambushed on Route 26 in Tay Ninh, South Vietnam, while conducting a road security mission. Pfc. Miller's unit suffered seven casualties and eight wounded in the ambush. Unfortunately, Pfc. Miller was one of the casualties. (These operations are narrated in detail in Erik B. Villard's Combat Operations: Staying the Course, October 1967-September 1968, last updated 31 January 2021, U.S. Army Center of Military History website, accessed 22 February 2022, https://history.army.mil/html/books/091/91-15-1/index.html.)
| Pfc. Miller's body was recovered and returned to the U.S., where he was buried at John Beane Cemetery in Sissonville, Kanawha County, West Virginia. He will always be memorialized as his name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Panel 43W, Line 7, located in Washington, D.C. He is also remembered and memorialized at the West Virginia Veterans Memorial located in Charleston, West Virginia. |  |
Earned during his military service, Pfc. James Ray Miller's commendations include the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Marksmanship Badge, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Army Presidential Unit Citation, the Vietnam Gallantry Cross, and the Army Good Conduct Medal. ("James Ray Miller," HonorStates.org, accessed 22 February 2022, https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=288155.)
On January 20, 2020, the West Virginia Legislature introduced House Concurrent Resolution No. 20, which requested that the West Virginia Division of Highways rename the Spicewood Bridges North Bound and South Bound carrying Interstate 77 over Spicewood Branch and County Route 21/34 in Jackson County, as the "U. S. Army PFC James Ray Miller Memorial Bridge." Pfc. Miller's dedication and sacrifice to our country will always be remembered and honored for many generations to come.
Article prepared by Benjamin Thaxton, Gavin Darnall, and Hunter Breedlove, George Washington High School JROTC
February 2022
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.