Glenn Miller Declassified

by Dennis M. Spragg

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Pub Date Sep 01 2017 | Archive Date Sep 30 2017

University of Nebraska Press | Potomac Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Nonfiction (Adult)

Description

On December 15, 1944, Maj. Alton Glenn Miller, commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band (Special), boarded a plane in England bound for France with Lt. Col. Norman Francis Baessell. Somewhere over the English Channel the plane vanished. No trace of the aircraft or its occupants has ever been found. To this day Miller, Baessell, and the pilot, John Robert Stuart Morgan, are classified as missing in action.

Weaving together cultural and military history, Glenn Miller Declassified tells the story of the musical legend Miller and his military career as commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band during World War II. After a brief assignment to the Army Specialist Corps, Miller was assigned to the Army Air Forces Training Command and soon thereafter to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, in the UK. Later that year Miller and his band were to be transferred to Paris to expand the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme, but Miller never made it.

Miller’s disappearance resulted in numerous conspiracy theories, especially since much of the information surrounding his military service had been classified, restricted, or, in some cases, lost. Dennis M. Spragg has gained unprecedented access to the Miller family archives as well as military and government documents to lay such theories to rest and to demonstrate the lasting legacy and importance of Miller’s life, career, and service to his country.

On December 15, 1944, Maj. Alton Glenn Miller, commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band (Special), boarded a plane in England bound for France with Lt. Col. Norman Francis Baessell. Somewhere...

Advance Praise

“Dennis Spragg not only brings Miller’s entire professional life and career into sharp focus; he artfully weaves together strands of military, aviation, political, and cultural history to produce what is sure to be the definitive biography of this dedicated patriot and gifted entertainer. Glenn Miller Declassified is a richly researched and wonderfully crafted work.”—Mark J. Conversino, deputy commandant and professor of strategy and security studies at the U.S. Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies

“Glenn Miller Declassified is a remarkable feat of historical investigation, technical analysis, and cultural retrospective. Meticulously researched, the author provides the most compelling argument yet of what happened to one of America’s most influential musical figures.”—Col. Matthew M. Hurley, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), and former USAF and division chief, ISR Doctrine and Policy

“With great dedication Dennis Spragg has extensively researched the stories that have long circulated about the disappearance of our father’s plane during World War II. Finally, there is resolution to this long-standing mystery.”—Jonnie Miller Hoffman, daughter and surviving heir of Glenn Miller

“An excellent historical detective story that brings to life a small period of time that changed the course of the music world and once and forever lays to rest all the silly theories.”—Edward F. Polic, historian and author of the definitive Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band discography, “Sustineo Alas / I Sustain the Wings”