Army Lt. Col Patrick Miller, a survivor of the 2014 Fort Hood mass shooting, attends an interview with a Buffalo news station on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (Facebook/Southern Tier Wounded Warrior Benefit Concert)
Lt. Col. Patrick Miller and his wife, Ashley, with children Harper and Bennett at Miller’s graduation from the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., last year.
Ask Patrick Miller why he continues to organize and run a benefit concert for veterans and their families in the Southern Tier from 300 miles away, and it goes back to when he was shot by a fellow soldier who went on a rampage at the former Fort Hood, Texas.
After that experience in 2014, he pays more attention to the smaller things in life.
“I love and appreciate fellowship, getting together, celebrating really anything,” Miller said. “But in this case, you know, celebrating life, celebrating our freedoms, celebrating our health, spending time with friends and family and doing it while doing things we enjoy.”
Now the chief of financial policy for Army medicine at the Defense Health Agency, Patrick Miller recalled the mass shooting at Fort Hood, now known as Fort Cavazos, where he was shot in the abdomen and secured himself and others in an office away from the gunman.
The Allegany native was shot in the abdomen during the shooting in which a gunman killed three soldiers and wounded 15 others before taking his own life. Miller led others to safety, despite his severe wound, and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal.
Miller held small fundraisers and a pig roast in the Allegany Knights of Columbus during the first few years after the shooting. He then took it up a notch, moved the fundraiser to Allegany Firemen’s Park and parade grounds, and included a concert.
(Facebook/Southern Tier Wounded Warrior Benefit Concert)
Then Maj. Patrick Miller, a survivor of the 2014 Fort Hood mass shooting, stands outside his office at Tripler Army Medical Center on Nov. 18, 2016. (Chris Hubenthal/U.S. Air Force)
This year’s benefit Saturday has a new venue, Bradner Stadium in Olean. It will feature a diversified lineup with country star Tyler Farr; Derek St. Holmes, former lead singer and guitarist for Ted Nugent; Harper Grace, an “American Idol” alum; and local artist Ade Adu. The gate opens at 4 p.m. Tickets for the Southern Tier Wounded Warrior Benefit Concert are available at Eventbrite.com.
Miller, who served two tours of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Army, plans to be the first one at the stadium at 6 a.m., and the last one out the door when the concert is over.
“I believe in why we’re doing it. I believe in the cause,” he said.
Proceeds will go to Fisher House, which offers free lodging to the families of military members and veterans who are undergoing treatment, as well as Homes for Our Troops, Western New York Heroes and St. Bonaventure veteran services.
There will be food trucks, a concession stand, beer trucks, a raffle with more than 100 gift baskets, Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres alumni, autographed Bills and Sabres merchandise, games and inflatables for children and adults and a 60-foot obstacle course. Overflow parking will be available at Good Times of Olean, with a free shuttle.
More than 100 volunteers, including the Olean Oilers of the New York Collegiate Baseball League, are helping with the fundraiser.
Miller, who was promoted to colonel in the fall, is chief of financial policy for Army medicine at the Defense Health Agency in Falls Church, Va.
Next summer he and his wife, Ashley, and their children, Harper and Bennett, will move to Louisiana, where he will take command of Baynes-Jones Army Community Hospital at Fort Johnson.
Fort Hood hero: ‘You don’t have time to think. It’s all fight or flight, and you react’
Critically wounded in the April rampage at an Army base in central Texas, Maj. Patrick Miller — a native of Allegany — and his family share a remarkably inspiring
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