Lowry AFB The History

Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa on the 1st of March 1904. He attended grade school in North Platte, Nebraska. By 1918 his family had moved to Ft. Morgan, CO where he attended high school…and played football as a Left End. His team won the Northern Colorado Football Conference in 1920. Miller entered the University of Colorado in 1923, but soon dropped out to concentrate on his music. In 1942 at the age of 38 and while at the peak of his career as an accomplished and well-known musician making as much as $15,000- $20,000 a week, Miller joined the U. S. Army Air Force initially as a Lieutenant with an eye towards modernizing the Army’s band. On December 15, 1944 he flew across the English Channel in a single engine UC-64 Norseman aircraft. The plane was lost over the channel and no trace has ever been found. He left behind his wife, the former Helen Burger from Boulder, CO and two children they had adopted in 1943 and 1944. A movie titled “The Glenn Miller Story” was released in 1954 starring James Stewart as Glenn Miller with segments filmed in 1953 at Lowry Air Force Base in what is now known as Hangar 1, the “Wings Over The Rockies Air & Space Museum.” Frances Langford, who had a small cameo appearance in the film, was also a part of the episode filmed at Lowry AFB. James Stewart had also served in the military eventually achieving the rank of Brigadier General in the USAF Reserve.