Among the men killed at Château-Thierry was John Q. Miller, of
Fairview, N. C., first lieutenant of the air service, shot down July
24, 1918. He was one of the airmen of whom the public had probably
not heard, for his courage and daring were not as spectacular as the
bravery of Luke, Rickenbacker or Lufbery. At the time of his death he
was the greatest observation pilot on the front, according to the story
of Major Elmer R. Haslett in an issue of _United States Air Service_,
the official publication of the Army and Navy Air Service Association.
[Illustration: At the Tomb of Napoleon
In this historic spot a hero of the World War is being decorated for
bravery.]
The unsung, silent heroes of the air are the observation pilots, who
at the risk of life go forward into impossible places to get pictures
of enemy positions and come back with their machines riddled with
shrapnel from “archie” fire. At the outset Miller, says Major Haslett,
attracted attention for the serious way in which he took his work. He
took assignment after assignment when he might have stayed back in the
barracks, and never failed to complete his mission. Momentarily driven
off by hostile aircraft or by too heavy “archie,” he would return to
the job and come back with his pictures or observations, and his plane
so full of holes that it had to be salvaged.