Loren Levi Miles, Captain

GEDCOM Note

1 UID 8A1882385A08C44A8EDED8D804874C18D7ED

!Date of burial of Loren Levi Miles, Capt. is uncertain. He was killed in action in W.W.II, in a plane crash outside Belfast Ireland Airport, He was in the U.S.Army Airforce Ferrying Command, and was ferrying bombers to England. It was reported that the weather was "inclimate", heavy fog and the plane crashed into the mountain just beyond the Belfast Airport, crashing on takeoff, killing all aboard the craft. Loren's body was first buried in England, at the Brookside Cemetery.( see story further down). After the war was over, Grandma Miles (Loren's mother) had his body moved to the Military Cemetery at San Bruno, California and he is now buried in Section C # 293. Date of death was Sept 4, 1944, and was re-interred in Golden Gate National Cemetery in 1948.

!DATA SOURCE: Personal records of complier, birth certificate, burial confirmation from Military Cemetery at San Bruno, California - Section C #293.

This was the article that appeared in the "Los Angeles Times" Labor Day weekend of 1944. " Loren L. Miles Hero of gun battles here (L.A.), dies in air service. " AIR CRASH KILLS EX-POLICEMAN" The death of Loren Lee Miles, 44 year old Army Air Forces pilot and hero of numerous gun battles during his 19 years on the Los Angeles Police Force, was disclosed yesterday by the 8th United States Air Force headquarters in London. Miles was killed last weekend in a plane crash near Belfast Ireland, in which Commodore James A. Logan, Commandant of the United States Naval operating base at Londonderry, Northern Ireland, also met death.

Holding a commercial pilot's license and boasting more than 8000 hours of flying time, Miles was given Military leave by the Police Department last April. Before joining the Air Force, he had spent his vacations ferrying bombers to Canada.

Miles joined the Police Department in 1924 and was made a Detective Lieutenant last year. During his tenure as a police officer, he shot and killed four bandits and captured many other criminals.

Loren Miles was married to Marjorie Jane Nisbet, 21 June 1925, they had 2 children - Marshall Emery Miles bn 21 June 1926; Elizabeth Jean Miles bn. 28 November 1927. Loren and Marjorie were divorced in early 1928. Loren married second Lola Burbank, they had one son - Larry Miles( who became a commercial air lines pilot- flying for United Air Lines for many years).Loren and Lola were divorced in about 1937. Loren later married Barbara________.

When the Military notified all of us of the death of Loren, no mention was made of where he was buried, or when the buriel took place. Grandma Miles tried for several years to find out, knowing that he was buried somewhere overseas, but seemed to run into rockwalls every where she turned. One day, some 2-3 years after Loren's death, Grandma Miles was in a downtown section of Chicago, Illinois (she lived in Chicago at that time) and if anyone knows anything about Chicago, they know why it is called "The Windy City". Anyway, she was standing near a street corner waiting for a bus, and the wind was blowing fairly good, and blowing leaves and trash around the street where she was waiting, when she felt some paper blow up against her ankle. She tried a couple of times to shake the paper off, by kicking her foot, but the paper was persistent, and finally Grandma reached down and took hold of the paper - which turned out to be a thin booklett put out by a local church on which was a picture of WHITE CROSS'S, row after row, taken of a cemetery,"Brookside Cemetery", in England. Grandma almost threw the booklett away, when her eye caught the vision of the white crosses, and she put it in her purse to look at later, because the bus came just at that moment. When she got home, she looked more closely at at what she had picked up, and very clearly on the first cross in the picture, was the cross showing the name "CAPT. LOREN LEE MILES". ((Anyone who thinks this was just a fluke of nature, certainly is off his mental track. We who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints know without a doubt, that Loren Miles wanted his grave to be found, and whether he himself or with Angels help, wrapped that paper around Grandma Miles's ankle, so she would find it.)

Grandma Miles now had the name of the cemetery, Brookside Cemetery as shown on the cover of the booklett, and a picture of the cross marking Loren's grave in England. As soon after that as she could, she notified the Military that she wanted Loren's casket shipped to the Military Cemetary in San Bruno, California where He is today as stated at the beginning above.

The compiler of this family history, Elizabeth Jean Miles, has the above noted booklett in her possession.

Among the things that Grandma Miles gave me after my father died were his service medals, 1)Occupational 2)World War 2 Victory medal 3)Good Conduct medal, and 2 pair of "Wings" ( one pair are sterling silver) I have given these things to my youngest grandson Miles Emery Chilcutt as he was interested in keeping and preserving them. He is the one who researched and found out what the medals were for. ( 3/15/2000) My Dad Captain Loren Miles age 44 Loren Levi Miles -moving and acting silly Marjorie Jane Nisbet and Loren Levi Miles wedding picture 1925 Marjorie Jane Nisbet and Loren Levi Miles wedding pictures 1925