top of page

761. Cottage Hill's April Loss 4-10-1942 WWII

Writer's picture: AuthorAuthor

Updated: Feb 27, 2022

US Army PFC Paul David Miller was born in Knox City, Knox County, Texas on October 21, 1921, the son of Pruthe David Miller (1885-1970) and Dora May McKenzie (1889-1966). His father was a WWI veteran having entered the US Army and stationed as a Corporal at Fort Barrancas, Pensacola, Florida in 1918. During this time period, he would meet Dora May McKenzie (1889-1966) whose father was William Newton McKenzie of Cottage Hill, Escambia County, Florida. The two were married in Cottage Hill on May 10, 1919 where Dora was teaching school. Shortly afterwards, Pruthe and Dora left the area with their four children being born elsewhere. Their son Paul lived here for a while and would return occasionally but made his permanent home with his parents in Portales, New Mexico.


Paul would finish high school in New Mexico and enlist in Santa Fe, NM on September 4, 1940 in the US Army Coast Artillery. His choice of service was perhaps because of the influence of his father who served in the same at Ft. Barrancas. He was assigned to the 59th Coast Artillery Regiment (Air Defense), which had been reactivated in 1941 prior to the war. They were shipped out to the Philippines where they manned fixed coastal artillery and antiaircraft defenses at Manila and Subic Bay. Paul's antiaircraft battery was apparently located on the Bataan Peninsular while many of the others were at Ft. Mills on Corregidor.


Upon the invasion of the Philippines by the Japanese, the American and Filipino forces found themselves outnumbered and ill prepared to repel the invaders. Manila quickly fell three weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor as the defensive forces fell back onto the Bataan Peninsula. For three months, the defenders bravely fought the advancing enemy forces despite being depleted by disease, malnutrition, and overwhelming casualties. Finally, the starving remnants were forced to surrender on April 9! However, the Japanese commander was now overwhelmed with 60,000 debilitated prisoners of war. With Corregidor still in the throes of resisting, there was certainly no transportation available for the prisoners. Thus, he was forced to march them sixty-five miles through the dense jungle without food or water all the way to the San Fernando railhead. Any laggards were summarily executed. By the time the march was completed as many as 18,000 Filipinos and 650 Americans had perished.


However, Paul escaped the brutality of the march due to the fact that he died at its very beginning on April 10, 1942. A fellow soldier from his regiment escaped from the march by swimming the 3.5 miles to Corregidor with the use of an improvised flotation device. He would return to fight with their regiment and became a POW again when Corregidor was surrendered. But the exact manner of Paul's death is unknown as to whether he attempted the swim as well or died during the march itself. Regardless, he perished in service to his country!


His parents were notified of his death who in turn passed on the news to his relations in Cottage Hill. His parents would eventually join him in death and were buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Deming, Luna County, New Mexico.











6 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

コメント


  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin

©2018 by Unique History of Pensacola. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page