Miller, Keith

Keith Miller was born March 11, 1946 in Pittsburgh.  He grew up in small town America in the 1950s, enjoying what life had to offer, from TV to baseball to playing in the street.  It was also the time of the Cold War, and Keith remembers that his childhood was also interrupted by “duck and cover” drills at school, not to mention the paranoia of McCarthyism.  Vietnam entered into Keith’s  – and the American consciousness overall – in the mid-60s.  Keith’s family was hard-pressed for money, so college was not an option for him:  he knew the draft board would have him on their radar.  Knowing that he’d inevitably be drafted, Keith opted to enlist, and he ended up in the air force.  Training at a succession of bases ensued, from Biloxi, Mississippi all the way to Shemya – in the distant Aleutian islands off of Alaska.  He made his way to Vietnam right at the start of 1970 – after dealing with bureaucracy and army regulations on AWOL and desertion – and right away he knew he was in a war zone.  The air base was under attack within a few days of his arrival, and his roommate was lost when his plane disappeared the following week.  Keith did get through that difficult year, working in air force intelligence with an early version of GPS.  It was his job to help locate the Viet Cong and to disrupt the enemy’s supply chain, on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and on coastal routes that connected to China; it was top secret work as this new technology was being developed.  Once his tour was up, Keith returned to the US, and went to college, building friendships and turning the page on to the next part of his life.  Crestwood students were able to zoom with Keith Miller in May 2023.