Don Miller

Entry 381
Date: Friday, May 16, 2003 Time: 5:32 AM EST
Email=
Name= Don Miller
Served=
Ship / Unit=
Age=
City= Milwaukee
State= Wisconsin
Zip=
Country= United States
Phone= 000-000-0000
A URL to share= No
How did you find this site?= From a Search Engine
Reasons for reading about the Vance= Other
Comments=I was looking for info on U873. A neighbor talked about being in Portsmouth and being on that U-boat. He was a helmsman and actually talked of driving that particular U-boat. Wanted to find out some history. He did have 2 photos of the christening of U873 like the one on this site. So would believe all he told me about his time there to be correct.
Don Miller
[We thought he referred to a German crewman but read on. The following is condensed from several emails between Joe and Don.]
I am sorry if I mislead you in anyway. Walter was the helmsman on an American Sub. He had talked about the Spikefish and Cachalot(?). He asked at one time if I could search for info on the U873. Did some research and as mentioned at first did not find anything. While searching one day I did find a couple articles and told Walter about what was written. In the article it was mentioned about the surrender of U873 and while telling him about what was written in the article he told me "BULLS**T...we captured it". Don't forget this comes from a "veteran". One who was very proud to serve his country. So that was his view on how the events took place.
During the conversation he said that being the only one there who could speak German he was asked to interpret for them. Said he told to ask if there were any "booby traps" on the sub and when it was mentioned there were he was asked to go and check to see if they were indeed there. So he went on the sub and looked and found what they had mentioned to be true. He then returned and passed along the info as to what and where exactly the "booby traps" were. Walter did also mention that he requested to go back and help to defuse these items and he was told to stay back. It was also told that he did get to drive(?), if that is the proper term, the U873. He said they took the sub out and dove it to "record depths for that time" as he put it.
Walter mentioned of photos and such but after he passed away his son cleaned out his house and tossed everything When I went thru the items being tossed I did find the picture of the christening of the sub,also found a deck of cards which he had mentioned to me also. The picture was folded to fit inside a shirt pocket. There was also a pencil sketch profile of what looks to be a German officer. Now if that is of someone from the U873 I don't know. If interested I could scan it and send it to you. Let me know.
That's about all I remember him telling me about the U873. I don't know if this helps any and if any of it is really true. I am sure you know that stories do get added to over years. I am only passing on what was told to me and I cannot vouch for their truth. With finding of the couple items I did there must be a little truth to his story.
I wish I could get more info from Mr. Walter Boshard, would be happy to do so, but he passed away about 2 years ago. He was proud of his time as an American submariner and talked alot about it. I am sorry if I mislead you in anyway. Walter was the helmsman on an American Sub.
Don Miller
A note from History:
Spikefish began her last war patrol on 8 July 1945 with an uneventful patrol in the Yellow Sea and lifeguard duty off Shanghai. On the 24th, she bombarded Surveyor Island, off the China coast, in an attempt to destroy an enemy radar station. Shortly after midnight on 11 August, she located a small Japanese cargo ship near her lifeguard station but could not make positive identification at night. The ship was dead in the water, so Spikefish waited until morning, identified it as enemy and sank it with gunfire. Three survivors were brought on board. On the night of 13 August, she made radar contact with a surfaced submarine. After tracking it for about an hour, the submarine submerged and disappeared from Spikefish's scope. At 0007, contact was regained and the submarine was tracked until morning, when she was sighted on the surface. Her silhouette proved her to be Japanese. Spikefish fired six torpedoes. Two hit the target which sank in a cloud of smoke. The sole survivor who was taken prisoner identified the submarine as I-873.
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