WWII veteran from Chester County dances into his second century.
Al Miller, a World War II veteran, recently turned 101
WEST CHESTER >> 101-yearold Al Miller has still got it with the ladies.
The World War II veteran of the China-BurmaIndia Theater, in the South Pacific, still dances the foxtrot, waltz, jitterbug and tango.
“I’m just a normal guy who is 101 going on 102,” Miller said with a sly smile from beneath a full head of hair. “It’s only a number.”
On Tuesday, several members of West Chester American Legion Post #134 threw a belated birthday bash for Miller whose birthday was in June, at the West Chester Area Senior Center.
The staff sergeant and military police officer in the U.S. Army Infantry cut the birthday cake and talked about someday again riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle like he did in the South Pacific.
The man who grew up on a farm in Malvern, attributed his reaching the century mark to more than 70 years of vegetable gardening at his West Chester home, and golfing.
Miller worked at General Motors for 15 years and served in 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945.
When 67-year-old son Stephen Miller noted that dad was getting old, his father didn’t miss a beat and said, “Thankfully, they remember me.”
“We have never forgotten what you folks have done for us,” Stephen Miller said, about his father’s contribution.
Stephen’s mother and Al’s wife recently passed at age 96.
“There might be hope for me, longevity runs in the family,” quipped Stephen Miller.
Brendan J. Murphy is retired U.S. Navy and commander of the West Chester American Legion.
“These men and women came from a different era,” he said. “We rely on technology today for a lot of our power.
“World War II power was a lot more mechanical, with no computers. It was a lot simpler and more dangerous then, and came down to bravery.”
Legion vice commander John Doran said all veterans are “brothers in arms,” and Lauren Meiswinkel, chaplain, said that “the Legion never forgets men who served in a theater very rarely known.”