BRATTLEBORO — After the German surrender, Robert Miller was among the first U.S. soliders to return home from World War II.
“I came home in June 1945, with the first 100,000 soldiers who were discharged,” he said. “There was talk we were going to get sent to the Pacific, but I knew I had enough points to get out.”
The Adjusted Service Rating (ASR) created what was more commonly known as the “the points system” for determining which soldiers would get discharged first.
Generally, soldiers were awarded 1 point for each month in service, 1 point for each month served overseas, 5 points for each combat award, and 12 points for each dependent child under age 18. In most cases, 85 points was enough to earn a discharge.
“I was at Fort Dix [N.J.] getting processed, when a lieutenant came up to me and said that I had a MOS [Military Occupational Specialty] that they needed, so they weren't going to let me out,” said Miller, who was an Army radio operator.
“I told the lieutenant, 'I've been overseas for 2½ years, I've got malaria, I got wounded and my head's f---ed up. I want to be discharged as a rifleman.' And so I was.
“The next day, I was in Penn Station on my way back to my home in Queens. I went to a shoeshine stand and sat down, and then a lieutenant colonel sat down next to me.
“He checked me out and saw the emblem over my right pocket. It was the 'Ruptured Duck' [the nickname for the Honorable Discharge Emblem, which was awarded to service members who were discharged under honorable conditions during World War II]. He said he never saw one before and asked what it means.
“I told him that 'it means that I was now a civilian, while he was still a goddamned G.I.'
“He put his arm around me and said that it was the best news he had heard all day, and wished me luck.”
Miller had a few other decorations on his uniform as he headed home. He had the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, with four battle stars. He had a Purple Heart, for the head wound he suffered at Monte Cassino.
And he had the medal he still can't believe that he was awarded - the Good Conduct Medal, which the Army presented to soldiers who completed at least three years of active service without any disciplinary problems or court-martial offenses.
“If there was anybody less deserving of that medal, it was me,” said Miller. “I hated all the Army's bull----, but I never got in any real trouble, so they gave it to me.”