Miller, assigned to the Pacific in Destroyer Squadron 52 (DesRon 52) throughout her World War II service, departed 20 November 1943, for Pearl Harbor.

On the 17th, after screening the carriers during flight operations for strikes against Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam, Miller received word of a Japanese Fleet approaching from the Philippines.

Throughout the 2-day battle, which tore the muscle from the Japanese naval air arm, she remained in that carrier's screen, splashing one enemy plane and damaging another.

In October, operating from Ulithi, the task force prepared for the return to the Philippines with strikes on enemy installations in shipping in the Ryūkyūs, on Taiwan, and in the South China Sea.

The two groups then sailed to assist TF 77 which had engaged an enemy force in Surigao Strait in an opening phase of the epic Battle of Leyte Gulf.

It struck repeatedly at enemy installations from Saigon to the Ryukyus and frequently sailed northeast to raid the industrial heart of the Japanese Islands.

Miller, participating in these raids on Okinawa, Kyūshū, and Honshū, was near Franklin when an enemy dive bomber penetrated the screen to drop several 500-pound bombs on the carrier, 19 March.

The destroyer went alongside to aid in the rescue and firefighting operations and then covered the carrier's withdrawal, for which actions she was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation.

Into June she screened the carriers and rescued downed pilots as the force struck at military and industrial concentrations from the southern Ryukus to Kyūshū.

Remaining on station in the combat area almost continuously until February 1953, Miller also served with TF 77 screening carriers as they conducted air operations against North Korean ground forces.

she participated in that fleet's swift response to the request of President Camille Chamoun of Lebanon for tangible aid to prevent a threatened coup d’etat.