Spa City WWII veteran Millis honored
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. >> A World War II fighter pilot was remembered during “Honoring Our Deceased Veterans Program” ceremonies at Saratoga County offices in Ballston Spa.
1st Lt. Tracy E. Millis graduated from Saratoga Springs High School in 1941 and joined the U.S. Army Air Force on May 23, 1944, three months after his 20th birthday.
He flew a P-51 Mustang and served with the 359th Fighter Group, 369th Fighter Squadron, 67th Fighter Wing.
“He always said he had the fastest plane in the Eighth Air Force because he had a great crew chief,” said Millis’s son, Tracy III.
Pilots and P-51’s of the 359th Fighter Group were primarily engaged in escorting bombers to key targets behind enemy lines. They also provided close air support during the Battle of the Bulge as well as the assault across the Rhine River into Germany.
Millis participated in campaigns in Rhineland, the Ardennes, and Central Europe. For his service, he was awarded the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters.
The Air Medal is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.
Also, he was awarded the American Campaign Medal, the WWII Victory Medal, and the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.
Millis’s son told how his father’s plane was hit by ground fire while returning from one of the 28 combat missions he flew. He made it back to France, crossed the English Channel and landed in England, but couldn’t reach his home base until four days later.
The government sent Millis’s parents a Western Union telegram, notifying them that he was missing, but presumed landed in England.
For the next few days, the parents waited desperately for further word. A second telegram arrived in Saratoga. However, West
ern Union couldn’t make deliveries because of heavy snows, so it was given to a mailman.
But the mailman didn’t deliver it, either, because he didn’t want to walk through heavy snow.
Millis’s father finally called the postmaster, who found the telegram and let the parents know their son was okay. But Millis’s father didn’t let the incident go at that.
He caught up with the delinquent mailman and inflicted considerable damage.
When Millis’s father was brought to the police station, a sergeant said, “It’s too bad I wasn’t there, too. I would have held the bastard!”
Millis was honorably discharged on April 23, 1946.
After coming home, he married his wife, Elizabeth, on Nov. 28, 1946 and they had three sons — Tracy III, James and Robert.
Millis worked for New York State Parks & Recreation at the Saratoga Spa State Park as a plumber until he retired on May 1, 1980. He and Elizabeth also ran a small “mom and pop” grocery store near the present day Triangle Diner, an area called Maple Dell where he grew up during the Great Depression.
“When he was growing up the boys lived and breathed baseball all summer long,” Millis’s son said. With little money, they couldn’t buy new baseballs so they extended each one’s life by wrapping it with electrical tape.
The neighborhood gang, called the Maple Dell Mob, skated on Loughberry Lake in winter and on rare occasions, when they could afford it, would go to one of the Spa City’s two movie houses, the Congress and Community theaters
Millis was a member of Saratoga Elks Lodge 161 and was twice named Elk of the Year. He also belonged to Gurtler Brothers VFW Post 420 in Saratoga Springs and the Racing City Chorus.
Officials presented family members with several citations and awards including a New York State Senate Liberty Medal, the senate’s highest award; a White House proclamation signed by President Donald Trump and a flag that’s flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Millis’s great-grandchildren are the family’s eighth generation of Saratoga Springs residents. The family has been in Saratoga since the 1820s.