Overview

On December 15, 1944, Maj. Alton Glenn Miller, commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band (Special), boarded a plane in England bound for France with Lt. Col. Norman Francis Baessell. Somewhere over the English Channel the plane vanished. No trace of the aircraft or its occupants has ever been found. To this day Miller, Baessell, and the pilot, John Robert Stuart Morgan, are classified as missing in action. Weaving together cultural and military history, Glenn Miller Declassified tells the story of the musical legend Miller and his military career as commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band during World War II. After a brief assignment to the Army Specialist Corps, Miller was assigned to the Army Air Forces Training Command and soon thereafter to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, in the UK. Later that year Miller and his band were to be transferred to Paris to expand the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme, but Miller never made it. Miller’s disappearance resulted in numerous conspiracy theories, especially since much of the information surrounding his military service had been classified, restricted, or, in some cases, lost. Dennis M. Spragg has gained unprecedented access to the Miller family archives as well as military and government documents to lay such theories to rest and to demonstrate the lasting legacy and importance of Miller’s life, career, and service to his country.

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9781612348957

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Reviews

An excellent historical detective story that brings to life a small period of time that changed the course of the music world and once and forever lays to rest all the silly theories. --Edward F. Polic, historian and author of the definitive Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band discography, Sustineo Alas / I Sustain the Wings --Edward F. Polic (02/27/2017)

Dennis Spragg's examination of the mystery of Miller's disappearance is forensic archaeology at its very best. With the JFK papers released earlier this week, now is the perfect time to look back at one of the most mysterious disappearances of the last century. A masterpiece. * Books Monthly * Interesting and certainly well documented, it illustrates the fast pace of life in wartime England with its mixture of servicemen and civilian population, there was certainly a lot going on. I award the book four stars. * Army Rumour Service *

An excellent historical detective story that brings to life that small period of time that changed the course of the music world and once and forever lays to rest all the silly theories. --Edward F. Polic, historian and author of the definitive Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band discography, Sustineo Alas / I Sustain the Wings --Edward F. Polic (02/27/2017)

Author Information

Dennis M. Spragg is the senior consultant of the Glenn Miller Archives and the American Music Research Center at the University of Colorado–Boulder. A veteran broadcasting and media research professional, he is an internationally known expert on Glenn Miller who has been featured in the PBS television series History Detectives, the series Mysteries at the Museum,twoBBC Radio productions, numerous media interviews, and many presentations. For more information about Glenn Miller Declassified, visit dennismspragg.com.

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