What Really Happened To Glen Miller?

0:08 after iconic band leader Glenn Miller disappeared mysteriously during World War II people searched for answers then in 2014 newly discovered documents finally uncovered the shocking truth if the big band era had a rock star it was Glenn Miller sure he looked nerdy in his Tuxedos and GL Mass es but he had Legions of fans who worshiped him like some other rock stars Miller's tragic demise came too early and it was also full of mystery his body has never been found on March 1st 1904 Alton Glenn Miller was born in Iowa like most members of his family he went by his

0:54 middle name in 1915 the Millers moved to nebr and Glenn started milking cows for extra cash he put his coow milking money together and bought a trombone he used the trombone to join the local Orchestra and even added the mandolin and cornette to his skill set he dedicated himself to music and took it so seriously that he missed his high school graduation because he had a gig when he went to college this absenteeism continued eventually he dropped out completely without a college education Miller was putting all his eggs into one basket after dropping out he moved to New York City and studied math but not traditional math he studied the

1:40 Schillinger system which uses math concepts to compose music at this time Miller wrote a song and rather unimaginatively called it Miller's tune this would one day change to Moonlight Serenade and become his signature song before that happened Miller had a problem to deal with now that he was in the Big Apple he had to compete with loads of other musicians he was playing trombone with Ben Pollock when he was suddenly upstaged there was a new kid in town named Jack Tea Garden Not only was he a better player than Miller but he started getting Miller's solos Miller didn't like being second to

2:25 Tea Garden so he decided to focus on something besides the trombone he put his efforts into arranging and composing music his career was on the up so he decided it was time to find a wife and he already had a woman in mind a girlfriend he dated back in college Helen burer was waiting in the wings she was up for getting married but her parents were a different story they were pretty sure that Miller's career choice wouldn't adequately provide for their daughter Helen was an independent woman so she turned her back on her parents went to New York and married her sweetheart anyway now Miller had to prove his in-laws

3:12 wrong for exclusive perks like early access to new videos priority replies to your comments and to have your say on future content consider becoming a fact toate member on top of that your support helps keep the channel going click the link in the description for more detail [Music] after securing Financial backing from his friend Simon shriman he assembled his orchestra and by Spring 1938 Miller was finally feeling like things were happening he was garnering a reputation around the New York area and then he got a call that would change [Music] everything The Glenn Island Casino had launched many careers and Miller was

3:58 Lely thrilled to have the chance to play there when he and his band showed up to the casino they were absolutely stunned 1,800 people had shown up for Miller's act by the following year Time Magazine reported that of the dozen or so songs found in most jukeboxes in America at least two and sometimes up to six of them were Millers he was taking America by storm [Music] when his version of Tuxedo Junction had opening week sales of 115,000 it was time for his career to go into [Music] [Applause] orbit on October 6th 1939 Miller played

4:47 every musician's dream venue Carnegie Hall it didn't take long before Hollywood Came Calling 20th Century Fox was making the musical comedy Sun Valley Serenade and they asked Miller to provide the music and even play a role in the end he did more than just make an appearance in the film he provided a showstopping sequence that went down in [Music] [Applause] [Music] history even though the film takes place at a ski resort in Idaho the director wanted to work in a song that would really let Miller shine this was Chattanooga Chuchu and it had nothing to do with skiing at all but that didn't matter the sequence ended up being a stunning 8 minutes long including tap

5:34 dancing and wow [Music] audiences the song itself became the first gold record ever selling 1.2 million copies Glenn Miller wasn't only serious about music he was also serious about his country when World War II started he was ready to sign up but there were two problems first off the draft wasn't calling on married men at that time also Miller wore glasses which made it even more unlikely that he'd get the call from Uncle Sam Miller's Next plan was to use his musical background to help his country he sent a lengthy letter to a

6:21 general in the Army explaining that he had a new and outlandish idea about military music he wanted to add Jazz to boost the soldiers morale his application was approved and he had one month to wrap up his Affairs before deployment on September 24th 1942 Glenn Miller said goodbye to his fans on his regular radio program he and his band gave one final live performance at Central theater in New Jersey and that was that Miller bed farewell to music [Music] he was as busy in the military as he had been as a civilian musician he screened Personnel for bands and recruited new

7:07 musicians he was also responsible for a radio production unit that would broadcast in New York City considering his success by the time he enlisted Miller was used to doing things his way and so his rebellious attitude got him into [Music] trouble his use of jazz Arrangements like blues and the night for the marching bands didn't go over well he had to fight with the purists and eventually he won Miller had almost single-handedly changed military music forever in May 1944 a cable arrived from General Dwight D Eisenhower he wanted Miller and his unit sent to Europe he felt that Miller was the only one who

7:54 could give the fighting men a much needed boost to their morale [Music] on June 19th Miller flew to London and into the center of World War II he and his band first set up home in a BBC Radio office this was in the middle of an area of London where the constant sound of German explosives could be heard he arranged to move his unit to a quieter place and his timing turned out to be impeccable a day later that BBC office was bombed the explosion destroyed the entire building and 150 people lost their lives while in the UK Glenn Miller

8:41 worked closely with David Nan who would go on to become an Academy Award winning actor together Miller and Nevan planned to move the unit to France where they could entertain at hospitals and for troops on leave from the battle when the plans for the relocation went behind schedule Nan promoted Miller to executive officer this meant that he would go to France earlier to make the arrangements for his band Nan initially booked Miller on a December 14th flight to Paris which ended up being cancelled due to bad weather as a result he was then invited by Lieutenant Colonel Norman Basel to fly to Paris with him the following day Basel was taking a nerine UC 64a norsman which was a small single engine plane

9:30 because of Miller's travel orders he had no authorization to get on the plane with Basel he did it anyway and because of this no one officially knew where he was on December 15th just before 2: p.m. the plane took off from RAF twinwood Farm no one ever saw Miller Basel or the pilot again the morning following Miller's flight the Allies were caught off guard by German forces and a major battle began later dubbed the Battle of the Bulge for this reason no one seemed to notice that Miller's plane had disappeared it took an astonishing 9 days to realize he was

10:16 missing when the Allied Forces finally realized two senior officers went in person to see Helen Miller at her home and break the news Miller's wife was speechless the couple had just adopted a son Steven but it gets even more heartbreaking they had also adopted another child this time a girl named Johnny and Miller hadn't even met her as Helen grappled with what had happened it was time to tell the world on Christmas Eve 1944 an announcement was made to the media legendary band leader Glenn Miller had disappeared and no one knew where he was Jerry gray stepped in to take Miller's

11:02 place and the Christmas concert went [Music] ahead most people at the time assumed that Glenn Miller and his plane had crashed for two reasons there was fog that day and there was the potential of ice being on the wings of course there were a lot more far-fetched theories about what happened to Miller some believe that it was the Germans who shot down the plane and that Miller specifically was a Target this Theory suggests that Miller was part of a secret mission and that the Germans captured him but there's another theory that places the blame much closer to home in 2000 SES auctioned off a log book from World War II the writer of the book was

11:47 also in the sky the night Miller's plane disappeared Derek Thurman said that he was on a raid of Germany that night and the usual practice was to dump any unused explosives in the sea before returning home he claims that he and three of his crew saw a small plane headed in the opposite direction which easily could have been Miller's plane Unfortunately they suspected that the explosives they had intended to drop into the sea probably hit Miller's plane the rear Gunner apparently saw the disaster with his own eyes he said that he saw Miller's plane flip over and enter the ocean that entire area was supposed to be clear of any aircraft so the next thing to figure out was why Miller's plane was there in the first

12:35 place a possible solution to the mystery of the root Miller's plane toque came from a bizarre Source in 2012 San anderton tried to sell his brother's old notebooks on the BBC's Antiques Road show as it turned out anderton's brother was a plane spotter when he was a teenager he kept meticulous records of all the planes he saw pass over him while he was working somewhere in these books could be the answer to Miller's disappearance authorities realized that the spotter's location would have given him a direct view of Miller's plane what they learned from the notes was that the plane was on schedule and on the correct course this threw the friendly fire Theory out the window then another

13:22 surprising find would bring us closer to the truth back in 1987 a fisherman had made a a shocking Discovery he found a plane in his Nets but had to let it slide back into the sea years later he saw a photo of Miller's plane and realized it could be the same one with his help authorities eventually located the wreckage near Dorset England this fisherman may have solved the mystery of Miller's disappearance but we still don't know for sure the International Group for historic aircraft recovery has worked to determine if the wreckage is actually Miller's aircraft unfortunately there's still no concrete proof but it does remain a possibility after Glenn Miller's bizarre

14:09 disappearance his son Steven had to put up with conspiracies until he got so fed up he decided to try to solve the mystery himself he hired an expert on his father's life Dennis sprag who had spent years looking for Clues finally He Came Upon military documents that hadn't been examined before because of these documents sprag now believes that the fuel intakes on Miller's plane froze and caused it to go down over the English Channel sadly Steven passed away in 2012 before he got to know what really happened to his father the inimitable Glenn Miller if you enjoyed this fate video give it a thumbs up and subscribe for

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