Glenn Miller's 1942 offer to serve in the Army

Here is a letter written by Glenn Miller from the files of the Glenn Miller Archive, courtesy of Dennis M. Spragg;

August 12, 1942

Brigadier General Charles D. Young
Room 5136
Interstate Commerce Building
12th Street and Constitution Avenue, N. W.
Washington, D. C.

Dear General Young,

In your recent letter to me, you mentioned the desirability of "streamlining" our present day military music. This touches upon a subject which is close to my heart and about which I think I can speak with some authority.

I wish you could read some of the many, many letters that have come to me during the past months from our men in military service expressing their appreciation of our various army camp appearances and our USO broadcasts. I wish you could also read some of the newspaper reports of interviews with our service men now in Australia and other distant places, and their pleas that broadcasts from home included a generous share of our music. These letters and reports all show that the interest of our boys lies definitely in modern, popular music, as played by an orchestra such as ours, rather than in the music to which their fathers listened twenty-five years ago, most of which is still being played by army bands just as it was in World War days.

The many requests for broadcasts, records, programs, dedications and arrangements are very pleasing to me but they leave me wishing that I might do something concrete in the way of setting up a plan that would enable our music to reach our service men here and abroad with some degree of regularity. I have a feeling that if this could be arranged it would help considerably to ease some of the difficulties of army life.

For the past three or four years my orchestra has enjoyed phenomenal popularity until we have now reached a point where our weekly gross income ranges from $15,000 to $20,000. Needless to say, this has been and is most profitable to me personally but I am wondering if it would not be more in order at this time for me to be bending my efforts toward the continuance of this income if it could be devoted to USO purposes, the Army Relief Fund or some other approved purpose. If, by means of a series of benefit performances or other approved methods, even some part of this income could be maintained and used for the improvement of army morale I would be entirely willing to forego it for the duration. At the same time, by appropriate planning, programs could be regularly broadcast to the men in the service and I have an idea that such programs might put a little more spring into the feet of our marching men and a little more joy into their hearts.

With these thoughts in mind I should like to go into the army if I could be placed in charge of a modernized army band. I feel that I could really do a job for the army in the field of modern music. I am thirty-eight years of age and am in excellent physical condition. I have, of course, registered for the draft but have not been classified. Inasmuch as I have been married for twelve years, I would suppose that under present regulations I shall be ultimately placed in Class 3A. I mention this only because I want you to know that my suggestion stems from a sincere desire to do a real job for the army and that desire is not actuated by any personal draft problem.

I was born in Clarinda, Iowa and raised in Colorado. Both of my parents were also American born. I am a grammar school and high school graduate and also attended the University of Colorado for two years. My connection with music is not of recent origin. I have been playing and arranging music ever since my high school days.

I hope you will feel that there is a job I can do for the army. If so, I shall be grateful if you will have the proper person contact me and instruct me as to further procedure.

With kind personal regards and appreciating your interest, I am,

Respectfully yours,

Glenn Miller