Glenn Miller (1904-1944) was America’s number one bandleader. His life, career, service, importance and legacy are documented by his biographer and archivist Dennis M. Spragg.
GLENN MILLER AWARD On October 5, 2024, the Air Force Public Affairs Association inducted Major Glenn Miller into its Hall of Fame. Addressing the annual meeting of the organization in San Antonio, Texas, Dennis M. Spragg accepted the Glenn Miller Award on behalf of his family and many friends. Thanking …
1935-2024 DEAN OF BIG BAND SCHOLARS With the greatest sorrow, the Glenn Miller Collections and the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society regret to inform our worldwide community about the recent passing of the legendary Edward F. Polic. Our brilliant and uncompromising colleague and mentor had a profound influence upon anyone and …
THE DEFINITIVE FACTS Glenn Miller, the legendary American bandleader, disappeared seventy-nine years ago over the English Channel. The Army Air Forces Major was an unauthorized passenger aboard a flight from RAF Twinwood Field, Bedfordshire, to USAAF Station A-42, Villacoublay Aerodrome, France. I originally posted the following statement about the Glenn …
AN IMPORTANT TRANSITION NICK HILSCHER Nick Hilscher has been music director of the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 2012 until the pandemic intervened. Previously, Nick and the band kept an exhausting schedule of appearances seemingly nonstop year-round. They have thrilled thousands of ardent fans from coast-to-coast and across the Pacific to …
INACCURATE REPORTS During August 2020, The Daily Express of London published a report about Glenn Miller’s disappearance with the headline “World War 2 Mystery: Glenn Miller’s plane could be found within a three-mile radius.” The article says that the team at the aviation archeology group TIGHAR “and Dennis Spragg, who …
GLENN MILLER’S GERMAN LANGUAGE BROADASTS “THE OWI AIMS AT FRITZ” “LONDON – The German Army, target of the “German Wehrmacht Hour” beamed out by ABSIE (American Broadcasting Station in Europe) is getting its first taste of OWI-supplied live popular music according to the New York office of the OWI’s Overseas …
GLENN MILLER ARCHIVES HONOREE Larry O’Brien is the cherished longtime former director of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He is also a leader in preserving our big band legacy and advocate for the Glenn Miller Archives. Therefore, it is a pleasure to announce that Larry is now a member of the …
WHITE HOUSE AND CONGRESSIONAL INITIATIVES Firstly, here is an update regarding our Glenn Miller Medal of Freedom and military honors initiative. As published in Glenn Miller Declassified: “Major Alton Glenn Miller, Air Corps, Army of the United States, confidently boarded the wrong aircraft on the wrong day to do his …
DEFEATING THE INVISIBLE ENEMY PANDEMIC CHALLENGES COVID-19 is certainly not America’s original invisible enemy. The deadly 1918-20 Spanish Flu pandemic certainly comes to mind. The nation that defeated infantile paralysis in the 1950s (and other childhood afflictions) will conquer our current challenge. Although an American president must rely upon medical …
HOW GLENN MILLER’S MUSIC DEFINED A GENERATION “Moonlight Serenade” is my essay appearing in the November 2019 edition of Smithsonian Magazine. It honors Glenn Miller and his famous recording. Moreover, it appears on the seventy-fifth anniversary of his disappearance. Here is a link to my Smithsonian essay, which also appears …