LeRoy Miller, D-Day veteran and former Minnesota mayor, dies at 96

At 92, LeRoy "Bud" Miller wouldn't let anyone help him raise the U.S. flag at a Twins baseball game. It was for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, and the veteran of that famous military operation was determined to do it by himself.

Miller, a Richfield resident and Purple Heart recipient, was tough, family members said. He also seemed to have nine lives, surviving multiple near-death experiences, including the storming of the Normandy beaches in 1944. Miller died Jan. 30 at 96.

Miller would proudly recall shaking the hands of Gens. Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton the day before the invasion, son Steve Miller said. He served in the 83rd Infantry Division, and a month after the invasion he was injured by artillery shrapnel and sent to England to recover.

He was cremated with the shrapnel still in his body, son Craig Miller said.

His military duties, which included warning others about German bombs in nearby foxholes, earned him a Silver Star, among other honors. But Miller wasn't just tough. He was also a family man and a jokester.

"Being that he had only granddaughters, he let us do his hair, paint his nails," said granddaughter Jill Coggins. "And I always knew him to be the fun, goofball, loving grandpa who would drop everything to be with his grandkids."

Miller grew up in Ellendale, Minn., where he eventually served as a volunteer firefighter and was mayor for four years. He worked with the local family business, Miller Brothers Plumbing and Heating, until he sold it when he retired in his 60s.

"He'd have to go out all hours of the night, seven days a week," said Craig Miller. "At 7 below zero, it's not fun."

Miller enlisted in the army in 1942, when he was 20. He was sent to Europe in 1944. After returning to the United States in 1946, he resumed working at Miller Brothers, marrying his first wife, Elaine, who died in 1985.

Miller had at least two close calls while working for the family business. While oiling the motor of a windmill with his dad, Miller fell 42 feet, breaking ribs and a leg and crushing his arm. Years later, while working with son Steve, Miller was almost buried alive during a ditch cave-in.

He turned such experiences into stories and jokes. He would challenge his grandchildren to try to straighten the arm that had been pinned at a 90-degree angle after his fall or spot the shrapnel in his eye.

"He kind of liked to boast to the fact that his senior year [in high school], he played the entire football season with a broken arm," Steve Miller said.

He married his second wife, Catherine, on July 4, 1987. He loved polka music and played drums, bass horn, tuba and the tambourine in various musical groups. He always had candy to give out and taped pictures of dogs to his walker that he used later in life.

He didn't often speak about his time in the service, though. Even watching the D-Day re-enactment in "Saving Private Ryan" was more than he cared to experience.

He lasted only "about 10 minutes into the movie," Steve Miller said. "And he had to leave because it was just too graphic for him and [a] tough remembrance."

Nonetheless, Coggins nominated her grandfather to raise the flag at the Twins game for the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion in 2014.

"It was just a very powerful moment for our entire family," Coggins said. "He didn't share much about the war or about being in the military, but you could see in his eyes how proud he was to do that that day."

Services have been held.

Imani Cruzen is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.