MILLER, Harry Herbert
| Service Number: | WX11952 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 29 April 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Birmingham, England, 14 September 1920 |
| Home Town: | Fairbridge, South West, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Fairbridge Farm School, Pinjarra, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | factory hand |
| Died: | Execution, Piave, Italy, 21 February 1944, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
Milan War Cemetery VI. B. 5. |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Private, WX11952 | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Apr 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX11952, 2nd/28th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Harry Herbert Miller's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin
Harry was one of three children born to Henry and Lily. All three children were sent out to Australia as part of the Fairbridge child migration scheme.
Harry's birth in Birmingham was registered as Henry Herbert in 1921 (enlistment states his year of birth as 1920).
He arrived in Fremantle aboard Oronsay in 1932, aged 11, bound for Fairbridge Farm School in Pinjarra. His older sister Lilian would have been there to greet him, having arrived in 1930, aged 10, aboard Balranald. Their younger brother Frederick arrived in 1934, aged 10, aboard Moreton Bay.
Harry was a POW on board the Italian transport ship Nino Bixio when it was torpedoed by a British submarine in the Mediterranean on 17 August 1942. The Nino Bixio was transporting Allied POWs from Libya to Italy. He was one of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident. He and another three men died later by execution.
The inscription on his memorial reads: Our brother. His duty nobly done. Lily, Fred.
Click images to start slideshow.