Born in Holland, Michigan, Miles received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Hope College in 1938, a Master of Arts from the University of Wyoming in 1939, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1942.

He joined the United States Army and reported for duty at Fort Riley, Kansas as a private in the fall of 1942.

He also served as a lawyer trying cases in the Judge Advocate General's Corps in Marseilles and Strasbourg, France.

After running unsuccessfully for Michigan Attorney General as the Republican nominee in 1960, he returned to private practice in Grand Rapids from 1961 to 1970.

[1] On March 29, 1974, Miles was nominated by President Richard Nixon to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan vacated by Judge Albert J. Engel Jr.