He served as a navigator for bombers in World War II, and as a helicopter pilot assigned largely to rescue missions in Korea and Vietnam.
[2] In WWII, he was also awarded with the Air Medal with three clusters and the European Theater Ribbon with four battle stars.
Earnest L. MacQuarrie piloted a pair of helicopters in what was called one of the most daring air rescues of the war of eight infantrymen.
[7] At the outset of that rescue, MacQuarrie's helicopter stayed in the air initially to help direct fire from the support F-80 fighter planes.
When North Korean forces opened fire on the trapped men, Miller shot at them with his .45 pistol, allowing MacQuarrie to see the location of the enemy soldiers and direct the support fighters who bombed them with napalm.
In a nod to his performance, he was one of two pilots given the mission to fly Allied officer-delegates to peace talks at Kaesong along with Lt. Harold W.
[13][14] In that mission he took colonel rank officers to a conference which could have paved the way for later negotiations,[15] although the talks would ultimately fail.
Miller continued to fly rescue missions, and in September, Miller and pilots Lt. Michael Angelo Mecca, Lt. Charles J. Dupont, and Lt. Leonard A. Hughes were credited with a rescue of 14 Army engineers who had been working on a section of a pontoon bridge which had torn away from the rest at Imjin River.
[18] During the Vietnam War, Miller flew rescue missions and commanded the 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron.