Army Pfc. Patrick Miller
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Rank/Branch
PFC/Army
Unit
507th Maitenance Company, Fort Bliss, Texas
Personal Information
Date of Birth
1980? (23 years at time of capture)
Residency
Wichita, Kansas
POW Information
Date of Loss
March 23, 2003
Place of Loss
Nasiriyah, Iraq
Category of Means of Loss:
Ground

Patrick Miller is a member of the US Army who became a POW in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Miller was a graduate of Valley Center High School. While in Texas, he married his wife, Jessa, and had two children. The welder gave up his job, joining the army in summer 2002, to help pay for his student loans.

They moved to Park City in December 2002, to allow Jessa and kids to live with her mother during the war. When Miller was shipped overseas, he was said to have not been overly concerned, despite his mother's strong feelings against it. His half-brother, Thomas Hershberger, commented "He is kind of cocky - he didn't act scared at all."

On March 23, 2003, Iraqi troops ambushed a U.S. Army supply convoy near An Nasiriyah when it took a wrong turn. There had been bitter fighting around Nasiriyah, a vital crossing point of the River Euphrates. Johnson was among a dozen soldiers in the convoy who captured.

He was one of five POWs to be interviewed on Al-Jazeera. In the interview, he was asked why he came to Iraq, his reply was "I come to fix broke stuff." Asked if he came to shoot Iraqis, he answered, "No, I come to shoot only if I am shot at. They don't bother me, I don't bother them."

His mother lives in New Mexico. At the time of capture, Miller's son was 4-months-old, and his daughter 7-months-old. He has a half-brother named Thomas Hershberger, who was 27 at the time of Miller's capture.

QUOTES

  • "as fast as possible" - Patrick Miller's half-brother Thomas Hershberger's opinion on how the war in Iraq should be ended

References

Hegeman, Roxana, "'Please Do Something for My Son' - Families Identify Soldiers Held Captive in Iraq". The Associated Press, March 24, 2003.