Bruce Michael Miley
SP5 - E5 - Army
Date of Birth: December 20, 1946, age 21
Home Town: Ocean City, NJ
Length of service 1 year. His tour began on Nov 2, 1967.
Casualty was on Oct 21, 1968
NON-HOSTILE, FIXED WING - NONCREW AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Bruce is honored on Panel 40W, Line 13 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
45th MID and HHQ, 1st Military Intelligence Battalion (Air Reconnaissance Support)
Bruce was part of the 45th MID that went to Vietnam in our unit movement from Ft Bragg, NC to Qui Nhon RVN in October 1967, where I believe he was transferred to HHC of 1st MIBARS fairly quickly. I learned of his death at the end of my tour, when I was about to DROS from Saigon and Bruce had taken "one more flight" a couple of weeks before, when would have left with me. I will always remember his smile and laughing eyes... Terry Wheeler
Howard Armour, Wayne Sarles and I were in the same II class at Ft Holibird and graduated in the spring of 1967. The three of us plus Angel Almindina, Darren Griffen and others that are not coming to mind were then assigned to the 45th Military Intelligence Detachment at Ft Bragg. The detachment was being activated to become the 5th Detachment of the 1st MI Battalion that was already in place in Vietnam. The detachment was composed of 42 officers and enlisted men. Late in Oct of 1967 we began our movement to Vietnam. The trucks and equipment were sent ahead of us. We flew on a chartered 707 from Pope AF base adjacent to Bragg out to Oakland making one stop in Texas to fill the plane. On arrival at the Oakland airport we were bused to the Oakland Army terminal on SF Bay. We boarded the USS General John Pope troop transport ship for a three week voyage to Vietnam. On arrival in Vietnam, the detachment was broken up to avoid having the whole detachment rotate out at the same time. The 42 of us were distributed among the 4 detachments and headquarters company of the 1st MI Bn. The 45th MID was reassembled by pulling guys from all 1st MI units plus some from the original group. Bruce was assigned to the headquarters unit in Saigon. I assume that he worked as an Imagery Interpreter at the AFB in Saigon. The main function of the IIs in Saigon was to review the film as it came off the AF planes primarily to plot the area covered versus the planned mission. The film was then distributed to the appropriate detachment for detailed review.
We were scheduled to leave Vietnam late in Oct. Many of the original 45th were processed and transported together. Bruce was scheduled to be with us but extended his tour in order to make a trip to Hong Kong or similar place to buy equipment. Bruce was a single guy with no girl friend waiting at home. His plane crashed in Vietnam. Howard may recall the location.
The only picture of Bruce that I recall is the one in the Wiki site taken at Ft Holibird. Howard may have more. I recall that Bruce was a really nice guy that was liked by everyone in our class and unit. I still recall the morning when we learned of his death. Wayne and I were climbing into the truck headed to ops when someone came out of the office and asked if anyone knew Bruce Miley and then went on to say that his plane crashed. I remember being very sad and thinking he only had a week or two to go. Since then, as I think back on that morning, I think that it doesn't matter if it was the first day or the last day, it was a sad, bad day. As I stated above, Bruce was a very nice guy, liked by all and a good soldier as evidenced by his rapid promotion to Spec 5. The members of the VFW in Ocean City and members of the Ocean City community can be very proud of Bruce.
Dan Newell, 45th MID, Det A II, 10/67 – 10/68