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- The People Behind The Sacrifice
Army Sgt. 1st Class Marvin L. Miller
Died April 7, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom
38, of Dunn, N.C.; assigned to the 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; died April 7 of a gunshot wound he received while on traffic-control duty in Balad, Iraq.
Soldier killed in Iraq buried in Chesapeake
Associated Press
CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Marvin Lee Miller traveled the world with the Army: It took him from his native North Carolina to the mountains of South Korea and Germany and the streets of Iraq. His journey ended Wednesday, when he was buried with full military honors.
While Miller’s four children looked on at Roosevelt Memorial Park, an Army general presented his widow, Linnette, with a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and the American flag that had draped his silver casket.
Miller, 38, was a sergeant first class with the Army’s 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division.
He was shot to death April 7 in Balad, Iraq, while on traffic duty. His unit, deployed from Germany, had been in Iraq for two months.
During the eulogy at the Metropolitan Funeral Service Chapel in Norfolk, the Rev. Gregory Chapman spoke of spiritual battles, not real-life war.
“I know you’re going to miss your daddy,” Chapman told the soldier’s two sons and two daughters, all younger than 18. “But if you give your heart to God, he will be father to the fatherless.”
Miller grew up in Dunn, N.C. Family members said his wife was raised in Chesapeake, where his mother-in-law, Carolyn Turner, lives.
Linnette Miller, who married her husband in 1992 while they were both stationed in Europe, has been living in Germany with their three younger children.
Miller’s oldest child, 17-year-old Marvin Jr., lives with his mother and stepfather in Sampson County, N.C.
Gloria Murphy of Alexandria, who graduated from high school with Miller in 1983, said she understands why her friend was in Iraq, but is angry about his fate.
“I see it every day,” Murphy said, referring to media coverage of combat deaths. “But when it happens to someone from your hometown, it really touches you.”