ROBERT C. MILLER / 1915-2004
Journalist covered
conflicts worldwideThe former chief of the UPI Honolulu
bureau retired on the Big Isle
Veteran war correspondent Robert C. "Bob" Miller wrote stories for 45 years, from the front lines of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and riots, coups and uprisings around the globe.
His career with United Press International included assignments as bureau chief in Sydney, Tokyo and 16 years as head of the wire service in Honolulu.
Miller, who lived in Hilo since his retirement in 1983, died Monday at his home there. He was 89.
His anecdotes about his adventures and his acquaintances among the newsmakers of the 20th century affirmed his reputation as a storyteller in his off-duty hours for years.
"He lived those stories," said Big Island author Scott Stone, former Asia correspondent for Cox News. "I remember being in South Korea, way out in the boondocks, when an Army helicopter landed. The first guy off the chopper was a general and the second was Miller. I met him in Vietnam, in Manila, in Tokyo, in the boonies of Thailand.
"It was my good fortune to have lunch with him nearly every week at the Hilo Hawaiian. It would go on for three or four hours. He never repeated himself," Scott said.
"He had an optimist's view of this country," said Stone. "He would say the American government is the stupidest imaginable, but it is still the best in the world."
Miller's first wartime assignment was to accompany U.S. Marines in the landing at Guadalcanal in August 1942. He would recall that he filed the first news story of the landing, only to have it spiked by censors at Pearl Harbor.
He kept a daily diary of the experience there which, on his return to Honolulu, gave American readers their first vivid picture of the campaign in the Solomons.
He covered the war in Europe and was struck by a bomb fragment in 1944 at Verdun. He covered the Nuremberg war crimes trials, violence in Palestine when the state of Israel was created, guerrilla war in Greece and riots in India.
Covering the Vietnam War, he persuaded young Vietnamese men to take him across the border into Cambodia. "They were stopped by the (Communist) Khmer Rouge, and you don't fool with people like that," recalled retired Honolulu newsman Sandy Zalberg. "He realized what a pickle he was in. He took off his hat, they saw he was bald and, lucky for him, started laughing. They waved him away, to get the hell out of there. It was a dumb thing to do."
It was the fuel for stories years later.
"He was a legend in his own time," said Gordon Sakamoto, who succeeded Miller as UPI bureau chief here. "An old-school newsman, he could dictate a story from the top of his head. He had great stories to tell."
A storytelling session to the Big Island Press Club in 1968 led to a legacy for future journalists. Former Hawaii legislator Doc Hill launched the $1,500 annual Robert C. Miller scholarship.
Miller was born in Bound Brook, N.J., and graduated from the University of Nevada.
He spent part of each year fishing for trout and staying at a home he had in Whitmore, Calif.
He is survived by Michiko Haga, whom he married July 20 after 54 years together. Also surviving is his sister, Shirley McKee, nieces and nephews.