The medals awarded to a REME corporal are to be displayed in the unit’s museum
The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross bestowed on Corporal Adam Miller of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers is to go on display at the REME Museum at Lyneham Barracks near Swindon, in Wiltshire. Since the CGC was first awarded in 1995, just 60 have been issued, with Miller being the first member of REME to be honoured with the medal. As no member of REME holds either the VC or GC, Corporal Miller is the Corps’ highest-decorated soldier.
Miller grew up in Calne, Wiltshire, and joined REME in 1998 at age aged 17. In Iraq on May 21, 2007, he went to help a low-loader carrying military vehicles that had been damaged in an ambush in Basra. For the next two hours, while under fire from insurgents with smallarms and RPGs, Miller recovered the stricken vehicle in a display of “icy nerve, professional dedication, and almost suicidal courage in an impossible situation.”
His citation stated: “The loss of military vehicles in the centre of Basra would have allowed the militias to claim a significant victory – the decision was taken to fight to recover the vehicles. Miller, a recovery mechanic, was on standby in Basra Palace. The complexity and nature of the breakdown meant that a Foden recovery lorry (an unarmoured vehicle) was the only asset capable of performing the task, so Corporal Miller and Lance Corporal Burn were tasked to the scene.
