Brothers honor late dad with flight on WWII bomber

Two sons and a grandson of Pearl Harbor survivor Clarence J. Miller recently took flight in a vintage World War II bomber to honor his memory.

Mundelein resident Eric Miller, his brother, Bob, and Bob's son, Chris, both of Pell Lake, Wisconsin, experienced some of what the Doolittle Raiders did by flying aboard a B-25 during the Wings of Freedom Tour July 27-29 at Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling.

The Miller brothers grew up in Mundelein sharing their father's descriptions of Dec. 7, 1941, and have been keeping his memory alive the last 18 years since he passed away.

"The Doolittle Raid was America's first response to the attack on Pearl Harbor," Eric "Rick" Miller said. "We appreciate what the greatest generation did for our country and want to tell their story."

Eric Miller said their mother, who died in April, always told the brothers to wait until she was gone before going up in the vintage plane so she wouldn't have to worry.

Wearing T-shirts Rick Miller designed, the brothers took flight with both parents with them in spirit, he said.

Miller said he and his brother are passionate about keeping history alive by relating the stories of their father and other survivors, including Joe Triolo of Zion, the last Pearl Harbor survivor in northern Illinois, who died last January at age 97.

Clarence Miller was a member of the Northern Illinois Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. The brothers grew up going to the lunches and ceremonies and met several survivors.

Over the last 27 years, Eric Miller assembled a collection of graphics and models telling the story of his father and others.

They have hosted an annual Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony for the past six years and will host it again this year at Naval Station Great Lakes, where their father and others trained in 1940.

But, for the first time, there will be no survivors attending.