Retired Airman receives award for bravery

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class James Bolinger
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  A retired master sergeant was awarded the Airman's Medal at the Air Mobility Command Museum February 22.

Forty-eight years, eight months and 19 days after retired Master Sgt. Linwood A. Miller saved the lives of his fellow crew members after a deadly plane crash in 1957, he was rewarded for his actions.

The Airman's Medal is awarded to members who have risked their lives to save the life of another. The award is for heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy of the United States.

Col. Chad Manske, 436th Airlift Wing vice commander, was the presiding officer over the ceremony and presented the medal to Sergeant Miller.

Retired Brig. Gen. George L. Spuhler, Committee Chairman Pennsylvania National Guard Association, recited the citation; giving a vivid account of Sergeant Miller's heroic actions so many years ago.

On June 3, 1957 the crew of a C-47 Skytrain was ferrying personnel and equipment to radar sites throughout Alaska when its right engine failed, and the plane crashed into the dense forest near Fairbanks, Ala.

After the crash, then Airman 3rd Class Miller led a four-man team of fellow survivors into the burning aircraft to search for other members of the crew. He and his team of rescuers saved the lives of both the flight navigator and the radio officer, who were trapped underneath heavy equipment.

In the time before emergency crews arrived, he assembled the passengers and crew and administered first-aid to members injured in the crash.

"I feel I didn't do anything more than anyone else would do," said Sergeant Miller. "If it were up to me I would rather have those three guys standing here rather than the medal."

Sergeant Miller, whose military career spanned more than 45 years, never expected to receive any recognition for his heroic actions. However, a man whose life he had saved in the crash came looking for Sergeant Miller - to help him pursue a medal he deserved from day one.

"We lost track of each other in 1958," said Sergeant Miller. "And one day I got a letter in the mail, it took 47 years for him to find me. I was so surprised, I stood in the middle of my living room floor, and I cried for about half an hour."

The man who wrote him was retired Col. Alfred R. Nordby, the Radio Officer from the C-47, whose life Sergeant Miller saved. Colonel Nordby started the Airman's Medal process for Sergeant Miller.

According to Col Sam Cox, 436th Airlift Wing commander, this ceremony goes to show that no matter how much time passes, heroic acts are remembered and properly recognized by the Air Force.