Oscar F. Miller

Oscar Franklin Miller
Newspaper ad showing a depiction of Miller, May 1919.
Born	(1882-10-25)October 25, 1882 Franklin County, Arkansas
Died	September 29, 1918(1918-09-29) (aged 35) near Véry, France
Buried	Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1901–1904, 1917–1918
Rank	Major
Unit	28th Infantry Regiment 361st Infantry Regiment, 91st Division
Battles/wars	Philippine–American War World War I  • Meuse-Argonne Offensive
Awards	Medal of Honor

Oscar Franklin Miller (October 25, 1882 – September 29, 1918) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War I.

Miller was born in Franklin County, Arkansas, the third of eight children. His father, A.J. Miller, was originally from the eastern U.S. and had settled in Arkansas after the Civil War. At age eight, Miller's father died and the family moved to Bryant the next year. Miller's formal education ended after elementary school. In 1899, he moved to Texas in search of work and found a job with a newspaper publisher in the town of Paris. After a year, he briefly visited his home in Bryant and then returned to Texas, this time working as a waiter in Colorado City. While at this job, he learned to speak Spanish.

Miller enlisted in the Army on April 9, 1901, for a three-year term of service. After training, he was sent to the Philippines to fight in the Philippine–American War as a private with Company A of the 28th Infantry Regiment. He served as a company clerk and put his Spanish-language skills to use as an interpreter. During his two years in the Philippines, he was wounded in action. He returned to the U.S. and served out the rest of his enlistment with the 28th Infantry's Company G.

After leaving the Army, he worked briefly in Berkeley, California, before acquiring a job as a railway mail clerk with the U.S. Postal Service in Little Rock, Arkansas. While in Little Rock, he met and married Anna Conrad, the daughter of the city's police chief. A year later, their only child, Oscar Franklin Miller, Jr., was born. Miller came into conflict with the U.S. Postal Service's bureaucracy following a dispute over a misplaced mail sack, in which he refused to follow the chain of command and insisted on corresponding directly with the St. Louis postal inspector. As a result, he was transferred out of Little Rock to the Memphis, Tennessee–McAlister, Indian Territory, route.