MSGT Miles Griffith Beard

1918 – 2006 

MSGT; US ARMY; WORLD WAR II Co. E, 113th Engineer (Combat) Battalion

Miles G. Beard survived the Great Depression as a teenager in northern Indiana, spent World War II in the U.S. Army, and returned home to spend the rest of his working years laboring in a factory. His pleasures were stamp collecting, fishing, gardening, and having a good beer.

Miles' father was 20 years old when Miles was born. His dad spent the first year of Miles' life working on Miles' grandfather's farm in Owasco, Indiana. Then Miles' dad rented land in Fulton County and farmed; then he farmed in LaGrange County. Before Miles was ten years old, his father had moved the family to South Bend where he first worked at Studebaker's. Miles and his younger brothers, Max and Bruce, grew up in South Bend, in a little house on Kinyon Street, near the St. Joseph River. When the house sold to Miles' parents, the biggest selling point was that it had a bathtub, something not all houses had in those days. Why did that house have a bathtub? Because it had been used by a moonshiner during days of Prohibition.

Miles graduated from South Bend Central High School in 1936 and studied at University of Chicago before joining the U.S. Army in 1940. He served in the U.S. military from December 23, 1940, until December 27, 1945, five years and four days. Co. E, 113th Engineer (Combat) Battalion. He served in the United States and in the Philippines. Stateside, he was stationed for a while in Biloxi, Mississippi, and then at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. At Fort Bragg, he trained troops, and one of his tasks was taking troops for a required 20-mile walk. How do you get a man to walk 20 miles in a day? According to Miles, you let him rest when needed, keep him hydrated, and, if a man says, "I can't go on," you tell him, "You can rest, but if you do not complete the 20 miles today, you'll have to do it tomorrow, and the miles you have walked today won't count." In 1945, Miles was heading an Army base in Manila. He had his own house, his own cook, and a private secretary who could type faster than Miles could talk. He was a Master Sergeant with many troops under him. The men were being assembled in preparation for a by-land invasion of Japan. In early August 1945, Miles gave the men the news of the bombing of Hiroshima, and he saw young men fall on their knees and say, "I get to live." Miles was honorably discharged in December 1945. He was awarded a Good Conduct Medal, an American Theater Ribbon with two Bronze Stars, an Asiatic Pacific Theater Ribbon, a Victory Medal, and a Philippine Liberation Ribbon. Christmas time 1945, Miles was 27 years old, and he moved back to his parents' home in South Bend, Indiana, to rebuild his life that had been interrupted for five years.

He began working in a factory in Mishawaka, working production. On November 19, 1949, in South Bend, he married Elizabeth Ann Smith née Doyle, a divorcée with two children from her previous marriage. Almost from the start, Miles took on the financial support of the two step-children because their father rarely came thru with the meager court-ordered support check.

Ten months after Miles married Elizabeth Ann, his first child was born, a daughter. Five years later, a son. Two more sons followed. Until about 1960, Miles still dreamed of some how completing college and becoming an engineer. He took courses that Indiana University offered in the evenings at the local high school. Finally, he gave up the dream. The home that Miles provided for his family was in the Normain Heights neighborhood of Mishawaka, Indiana. It was a neighborhood built for returning WW II servicemen. Miles' house was a one-floor house, built on a slab: living room, kitchen, 3 bedrooms, one bathroom, and a utility room -- where Miles had lots of tools. The yard was big enough for children to play in, and children ran thru the neighborhood and played in the streets.

In Normain Heights, among Miles' closest neighbors for many years were Betty Casper, Joe and Pat Callahan, John and Lois Takach, and Clarence and Marguerite Cox.

Miles worked at UniRoyal (BallBand) for 30 years before retiring. He was a member of United Rubber Workers Local Union #65. He operated a rubber vulcanizer, making rubber mats for cars and trucks. He and co-worker Ed Costa made the specialty mats.

For many years Miles was a member of the Northern Indiana Philatelic Society, a social group for stamp collectors.

Miles had a massive stroke in March 1999 and received no medical attention for more than three hours. He was intentionally left without care for three hours. The stroke left him with serious brain damage, greatly diminished mental capacity, and partial paralysis on his right side. Left with diminished executory function, the octogenarian World War II veteran was manipulated by some after the massive stroke, manipulated in ways that were to his disadvantage. After being hospitalized in late 2004, he was moved to Mishawaka's Fountainview Nursing Home where he lived for the last 14-and-a-half months of his life.

At Fountainview, his roommate was Bernard Lenczowski. Two of the men he ate his meals with -- three times a day for seven months -- were Tom Loughlin and John Thornburg. Miles, Tom, John, and one other man always sat together for meals, at a four-person table, next to a window that overlooked an open grassy area where geese wandered. In the last month of Miles' life, a new man joined the table group, Philip Hess. One of the friendly faces at Fountainview was Carol Geist; Carol would visit Miles and cheer him up. For the last 14 months of Miles' life, the people at Fountainview were Miles' "family."

Miles' wife survived him, dying December 8, 2007.

From late October 2006 until soon after July 30, 2007, Miles' burial site was marked with a military marker. It was a marker provided by the Veterans Administration, a bronze plaque on a granite base. The marker read:

     MILES GRIFFITH BEARD

        M SGT US ARMY

        WORLD WAR II

    APR 14 1918 . MAR 23 2006

Source: FindAGrave.com

06/04/2025 EJS

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14452356/miles-griffith-beard