SUSTINEO ALAS
1 – A SENSE OF DUTY
Inside Glenn Miller Declassified: Alton Glenn Miller is born on March 1, 1904, in the southwestern Iowa town of Clarinda. Raised in Nebraska, Missouri, and Colorado, by September 1942 he is America’s most popular musician. For example, his band leads the entertainment industry in record sales. In addition, he has a network radio series and sets attendance records at personal appearances from coast-to-coast. Moreover, he makes two motion pictures and owns a music publishing company. Consequently, Miller is a secure and confident public figure. Therefore, he takes the entertainment industry and public by surprise by joining the Army to “do more for the war effort.” Dennis M. Spragg describes why Miller makes a patriotic but also pragmatic decision to enlist even though he is over draft age, married and at the pinnacle of success.
2 – DIRECTOR OF BANDS
Glenn Miller Declassified describes how after enlisting, Miller is briefly an officer in the Army Specialist Corps. In December 1942, he joins the Army Air Forces Training Command as Director of Bands. With the support of there entire AAF chain of command, he also creates an elite radio production unit and concert orchestra. Stationed at the AAF Technical School at Yale University and working from NBC in New York, Miller’s unit broadcasts the weekly NBC series I Sustain the Wings, record the programs Uncle Sam Presents and Music from America for the Voice of America, Treasury Star Parade for the Treasury Department, Home Base for the Armed Forces Radio Service, Hola Latinoamericana and Musica de las Feurzas Aereas for the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. The men also make V-Disc records and personal appearances to sell War Bonds.
3 – SHOTGUN MARRIAGE
In May 1944, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, requests the transfer of Miller and his men to staff a new allied radio service, the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme of the BBC. Glenn Miller Declassified details the actual circumstances of Miller’s transfer to the United Kingdom for the first time in any publication. In addition, this includes the contentious negotiations between Supreme Headquarters (SHAEF) and the BBC about forming the AEFP. Moreover, Spragg introduces the important BBC officials and SHAEF officers involved with AEFP and Miller, including Gen. Ray Barker, Maurice Gorham, Cecil Madden, Col. Edward Kirby, Col. John S. Hayes and Lt. Col. David Niven. Importantly, Spragg documents the accurate details of Niven’s key AEFP role that the debonair actor and his biographers ever publicized.
LISTEN TO
“I SUSTAIN THE WINGS”
Saturday, June 3, 1944
11:30 p.m. – Midnight
New York
(NBC)
ORANGES AND LEMONS
4 – A HUNK O’ HOME
Washington approves Eisenhower’s request and orders Capt. Miller and the Army Air Forces Band (Special) to the UK on June 14, 1944. Miller and radio producer Sgt. Paul Dudley fly ahead on June 19 aboard an Air Transport Command Douglas C-54 airplane and the band follows on the RMS Queen Elizabeth. Firstly, Glenn Miller Declassified explains that their primary mission is to produce AEFP broadcasts and entertain allied service personnel at live concerts. Spragg details their activities and accomplishments in the radio studios and touring the military bases in the UK, as well as the dramatic and positive impact they had upon the British people. Meanwhile, after a concerned Miller moves the unit out to the wartime BBC radio production centre in Bedford, a V-2 guided missile hits their London quarters.
5 – THE FAR SHORE
Gen, “Jimmy” Doolittle, commanding general of the Eighth Air Force, praises Miller and the men by stating that, “Capt. Miller, next to a letter from home, your band is the greatest morale booster in the European Theater.” Additionally, American entertainers Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore arrive in the UK and perform with Miller on radio. Firstly, Crosby declares that the band is the best he has ever worked with. After that, Shore does a recording session with Miller at the EMI Abbey Road Studios. Promoted to Major, Miller is loaned by SHAEF to the Voice of America’s American Broadcasting Station in Europe (ABSIE) to record propaganda broadcasts to the German army and people at the Abbey Road Studios. Spragg offers the first detailed documentation of ABSIE and its activities.
6 – STORMY WEATHER
SHAEF plans to expand AEFP to the continent and move Miller’s band from the UK to Paris. In addition, Miller is summoned to Versailles for a meeting with SHAEF Chief of Staff Gen. Walter B. Smith. Meanwhile, the US Eighth Air Force Service Command (VIII AFSC) houses the AAF Band (Special) in Bedford. When SHAEF and the BBC approve the move of Miller’s unit to France, there are snags, and the project falls behind schedule. Therefore, Niven orders Miller to come ahead of the band. However, harsh weather grounds scheduled passenger flights. At the same time, an impatient Miller learns that VIII ASFC officer Lt. Col. Norman Baessell is flying to Paris regardless and accepts an invitation to accompany him. Subsequently, Miller boards a Noorduyn C-64 “Norseman” piloted by Flight Officer Stuart Morgan on Friday, December 15, 1944 and the plane vanishes.
LISTEN TO
“THE AMERICAN BAND OF THE SUPREME ALLIED COMMAND”
Thursday, July 27, 1944
8:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Bedford, England
(BBC, AEFP & AFN)
PER ARDUA AD ASTRA
7 – BOMBER AUTOBAHN
Royal Air Force and Eighth Air Force Bomber Commands coordinate strategic operations against three German cities, using radar technology, in the harsh weather on December 15, 1944. However, the RAF portion of the mission is recalled when fighter escort planes cannot take off from their bases. Consequently, the RAF Lancaster bombers must jettison bombs over the North Sea and English Channel to lose weight and land safely. Subsequently, in 1984 a crewman remembers dropping bombs over a C-64 Norseman and causing it to crash. Therefore, Spragg precisely and comprehensively details the facts and evidence to determine if an RAF bomb jettison may have caused the C-64 with Miller aboard to crash. In conclusion, Glenn Miller Declassified unequivocally answers this question.
8 – ON THE CONTINENT
SHAEF and VIII AFSC realize that Miller is missing only after the band arrives in Paris on December 18. As a result, Doolittle’s deputy, Gen. Orvil Anderson, who is married to Miller’s first cousin Maude, orders a search and investigation. Spragg documents the events and declassified findings for the first time anywhere. Subsequently, the Army Air Forces Band (Special) appears in person and on radio broadcasts from Paris. Meanwhile, SHAEF keeps the band on the Continent to V-E Day and beyond. Consequently, the band tours the French Riviera, Germany, and Holland, and performs for top American and Soviet leaders. Moreover, Spragg also details the genesis of various conspiracy theories about Miller’s fate that pop up almost immediately after SHAEF announces his disappearance.
9 – HOMEWARD BOUND
Over the next seven decades, questions remain about what happened to Glenn Miller. Firstly, Spragg corrects historic misunderstandings about the circumstances. Secondly, Spragg uncovers the mechanical history of the C-64 airplane engine and unreliable carburetors that could freeze and stall the plane. Consequently, he meticulously considers all possibilities with the impartiality and focus of an NTSB accident investigator and leaves no doubt as to probable cause. In conclusion, the findings of the 1945 Eighth Air Force Board of Inquiry were essentially accurate if incomplete. Unfortunately, a toxic combination of pilot disorientation, mechanical failure and weather led to a catastrophic event at low altitude over the English Channel. Above all, Glenn Miller was a true American hero who led the greatest big band in history and made the supreme sacrifice for his country. Most importantly, the true declassified Glenn Miller story is inspiring over seventy years hence.
LISTEN TO
“MUISC FOR THE WEHRMACHT”
EMI Abbey Road Studio
London, England
November 27, 1944
(VOA-ABSIE)