Talk:Dusty Miller (martyr)
 | The contents of the Dusty Miller (martyr) page were merged into Through the Valley of the Kwai on April 10, 2019 and it now redirects there. For the contribution history and old versions of the merged article please see its history. |
 | This article was nominated for deletion on 5 February 2019. The result of the discussion was merge. |
Untitled[edit]
Dusty Miller was a comrade soldier of Ernest Gordon. What would be the rationale for merging the articles? Can you please clarify the reasoning behind the proposed merge? Thanks.Jc3schmi (talk) 05:02, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
- One rationale would be that Miller's story has only one source, Gordon. Another is that the article is short, and lacking any other sources, isn't likely to grow. Rklawton (talk) 14:48, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
Contemporaries of note[edit]
Miller was a POW in the Pacific Theater and used by the Japanese as slave labor. I think it's only reasonable to limit the list of "contemporaries" to individuals, or just martyrs, also interred by the Japanese. Otherwise, we've got about six million Jews who died because of their faith we could reasonably list in this article. Rklawton (talk) 14:48, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
"Dusty" Miller[edit]
Just about everyone I know surnamed Miller has the nickname "Dusty". Was that really his first name?--Richardson mcphillips (talk) 14:20, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
- No, it wasn't his real first name. In the book, Gordon explains that "In the chaotic conditions that followed the fall of Singapore men from all the services, from all the nations of the Commonwealth, were thrown together for a brief time and then parted. We seldom knew a man's full name. We gave one another generic nicknames and the nickname's stuck. A Londoner was given the tag of 'Limey'; an Australian was known as 'Aussie'; and so on." Gordon was "Rosie" because of his "ruddy Scottish complexion". When he met Dusty Miller, Gordon said "'Dusty', eh? That's what all the Millers are called, isn't it?" and Dusty replied "Yes sir - the Dusty Millers - that's us." I'd be interested to know what his real first name was, if anyone knows. Sadiemonster (talk) 15:38, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
It is unacceptable not to have the man's actual full name in this article. If the military unit is correct, there are complete rosters of all members during the time concerned in the archives for the unit. The records will show exactly which battalions were sent to Malaya/Singapore. Someone in Scotland will likely have to find it in the archives there.Starhistory22 (talk) 09:21, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
Dates[edit]
I have mixed feelings about articles like this that seem like advertisements for a specific book, which probably choses not to answer this simple question that a wikipedia editor asked on the talk page of the article's original author (a lay brother) six years ago. If Gordon was able to track this man down to having died 2 weeks before the war ended, per the article, why don't we have a real name and death date? While undoubtedly prisoners were killed in the war's waning days, "the end of the war" can mean several different dates, if not used as a literary device (which in my mind is inappropriate for a history article, if not a wikipedia TOS violation--presumably indirect here). The End of World War II in Asia gives dates of 14-15 August (Emperor Hirihito's order and the surrender of Japan's military) and discusses how this was three months after Germany surrendered as well as how the Japanese in Burma didn't surrender until September 13. However, the infobox for World War II article linked in this article's first paragraph gives an ending date of 2 September.
BTW, Dusty Miller can also refer to several varieties of garden plants, and this article said teh man was a gardener.Jweaver28 (talk) 11:08, 28 July 2014 (UTC)