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Casualty Info
Last Address San Pedro, CA
Casualty Date Dec 07, 1941
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Hawaii
Conflict World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Attack on Pearl Harbor
Location of Interment USS Arizona Memorial - Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Wall/Plot Coordinates (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Chief Petty Officer Forrest Miller was Killed in Action on December 7, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was stationed aboard the USS Arizona BB39.
Service number: 3414814
Comments/Citation:
Forrest Newton Miler was born on July 30, 1901 in Smith County, Kansas. He was the fourth of five children born to George Lincoln Miller and Luverna “Lou” Breeden.
His parents divorced in the early 1910s and in 1914 his mother moved the children to Wichita, Kansas. In the 1920 census, Forrest was living with his mother and doing odd jobs.
Sometime before 1930 Forrest had enlisted in the Navy. The 1930 census shows him as a crew member of the USS Pennsylvania which was docked in Philadelphia. He continued re-enlisting and served on several ships including the destroyer USS John D Edwards and the transport USS Chaumont. He was assigned to the battleship USS Arizona in September 1940.
His final re-enlistment was in June 1941. In August of that year he received leave and visited his wife Vivian in San Pedro, California where they were living.
Forrest had attained the rank of Chief Petty Officer, the highest enlisted rank in the Navy during WWII. His rating was Chief Electrician’s Mate - Permanent. CEMP Miller was 40 years old, old enough to be the father of most of the Arizona’s crew, when he was killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
At the onset of the December 7, 1941 attack, the battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) was moored at berth Fox 7 on “Battleship Row.” The repair ship Vestal (AR-4) was on the port side; and the starboard side faced the northeastern shore of Ford Island. Just before 8 am, the ship’s air raid alarm sounded and the crew was ordered to general quarters. During the attack the battleship was struck by as many as eight aerial bombs, including one 1,700 lb. armor-piercing shell which penetrated the deck near the Number 2 turret and detonated in the smokeless powder magazine, causing a “cataclysmic” explosion “which destroyed the ship forward” and ignited a fire which burned for two days. Most of the Arizona crewmen who perished in the attack died instantly during the explosion. The ship quickly sank to the bottom of the harbor along with 1,177 of the 1,512 personnel on board, representing about half the total number of Americans killed that day.
CEMO Forrest Newton Miller (Serial Number 3414814) is entombed in the hull of the USS Arizona.
