OWENSBORO, Ky. (Tribune News Service) — Veterans Empowered Together (V.E.T.) and the Bluegrass Music Academy are making an addition to the “Enlisted: Songs from a Veteran” project, a program that puts a melody to a veteran’s story, with the song “Corporal Kenny Miller (Ghost Army)”. Representatives from the project unveiled the song to Corporal Miller’s family on Monday morning ahead of the song’s official release on Friday, June 28.

V.E.T.’s mission focuses around empowering veterans by helping them positively cope with life as a civilian while providing friendship and camaraderie.

The organization’s website says, “one of the greatest assets veterans have is each other. By joining with fellow veterans, we not only build stronger bonds, but also better communities.”

Corporal Miller’s song tells a unique story of his service in World War II.

Corporal Miller was a member of what is now called the “Ghost Army.” Officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, the “Ghost Army” was a 1,100-man tactical deception unit during the war.

The troops were tasked with a special mission, to deceive Hitler’s forces by misleading the size and location of Allied forces in order to give those groups time to maneuver and regroup. The troops arrived in Europe shortly before the D-Day invasion into Normandy, France in June of 1944 and returned to the United States in July of 1945.

The group carried out more than 20 deception campaigns by putting on a sort of “traveling show” of trickery by utilizing inflatable tanks, sound trucks, fake radio transmissions and scripts.

The story of the Ghost Army remained classified until the late 1990s and was the subject of a PBS document called “The Ghost Army” that aired in 2013. Troops involved with the Ghost Army were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2022 for their service.

“Dad really never talked about his time in the war, and I didn’t push him because I didn’t want to bring up things that could be upsetting to him,” said Corporal Miller’s son, Bruce Miller, while attending the “Enlisted” Project’s song reveal on Monday morning.

“If they (the Army) told Kenny to keep his mouth shut, then that’s what he would do,” said Corporal Miller’s widow, Jennie Bell Miller.

Jennie Bell and Kenny Miller enjoyed 75 years of marriage before his passing on Christmas Day in 2022.

“We wanted to make sure that Jennie Bell and Corporal Miller’s family were some of the first people to hear his song,” said Brian Basham, commander and co-founder of V.E.T.

During his years of service, Corporal Miller managed to send $50 a month back home to Jennie Bell so that she could “make sure everyone was eating back home.”

“Kenny even insisted that his younger sister move in with us after we got married so that he could make sure she had enough to eat,” Jennie Bell Miller reminisced.

The song, “Corporal Kenny Miller (Ghost Army)”, came to fruition after Corporal Miller’s grandson, Brad Miller, met with Basham. Brad Miller provided Basham with stories, documentation and reference material about Corporal Miller’s stint in the Army, and Basham, along with Randy Lanham, education director for the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, Dan Hall and Matt Gray, a local music producer and the owner of Gray Sky Music, worked together to come up with the tune.

“(The song) is so good. It couldn’t get any better,” Jennie Bell Miller exclaimed after hearing the song for the first time.

“Dead on. Perfect,” said Bruce Miller.

The song tells the story of Corporal Miller’s secret World War II missions and sending money back home to Jennie Bell.

“This is a story that needs to be told,” said Bruce Miller.

Songwriters integrated notes of the harmonica into the mix after learning that Corporal Miller played the instrument.

“Dad played a few songs like the ‘Wabash Cannonball’ on the harmonica,” explained Bruce Miller, “And I regret that I never got a recording of him playing, but the harmonica added to this song is just the touch for Dad. I can just imagine him loving it.”

Bruce Miller described his father as a “quiet, humble man who found love in the outdoors and with golf who also enjoyed spending time with just himself.”

“I guess I found out about Dad’s missions around 2018,” Bruce Miller said. “I’d asked him if there was ever a time that the unit was close to being caught, and he talked about a time in Luxembourg where the group had only eight hours to pack up and move out before being discovered by German forces. It normally took them 12 to 24 hours to pack up and leave, but they did it in eight this time. They narrowly missed the German troops and that location was absolutely decimated afterwards.”

“It’s a very rewarding experience to write these songs and each time I feel like we’ve done our best work ... I feel like ‘Corporal Kenny Miller (Ghost Army)’ is our best song yet,” said Basham.

“I want to thank Brad for giving us this opportunity to tell Corporal Miller’s story,” said Randy Lanham.

“This song is just magical,” Bruce Miller said.

“What a blessing,” Jennie Bell gushed.

“Corporal Kenny Miller (Ghost Army)” will be available on all streaming services beginning on Friday, June 28. All proceeds generated from the sale of the song will go towards to operational costs of V.E.T.

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