after iconic band leader Glenn Miller

disappeared mysteriously during World

War II people searched for answers then

in 2014 newly discovered documents

finally uncovered the shocking

truth if the big band era had a rock

star it was Glenn Miller sure he looked

nerdy in his Tuxedos and GL Mass es but

he had Legions of fans who worshiped him

like some other rock stars Miller’s

tragic demise came too early and it was

also full of mystery his body has never

been

found on March 1st 1904 Alton Glenn

Miller was born in Iowa like most

members of his family he went by his

middle

name in 1915 the Millers moved to nebr

and Glenn started milking cows for extra

cash he put his coow milking money

together and bought a trombone he used

the trombone to join the local Orchestra

and even added the mandolin and cornette

to his skill set he dedicated himself to

music and took it so seriously that he

missed his high school graduation

because he had a gig when he went to

college this absenteeism continued

eventually he dropped out

completely without a college education

Miller was putting all his eggs into one

basket after dropping out he moved to

New York City and studied math but not

traditional math he studied the

Schillinger system which uses math

concepts to compose music at this time

Miller wrote a song and rather

unimaginatively called it Miller’s tune

this would one day change to Moonlight

Serenade and become his signature song

before that happened Miller had a

problem to deal

with now that he was in the Big Apple he

had to compete with loads of other

musicians he was playing trombone with

Ben Pollock when he was suddenly

upstaged there was a new kid in town

named Jack Tea Garden Not only was he a

better player than Miller but he started

getting Miller’s

solos Miller didn’t like being second to

Tea Garden so he decided to focus on

something besides the trombone he put

his efforts into arranging and composing

music his career was on the up so he

decided it was time to find a wife and

he already had a woman in

mind a girlfriend he dated back in

college Helen burer was waiting in the

wings she was up for getting married but

her parents were a different story they

were pretty sure that Miller’s career

choice wouldn’t adequately provide for

their daughter Helen was an independent

woman so she turned her back on her

parents went to New York and married her

sweetheart anyway now Miller had to

prove his in-laws

wrong for exclusive perks like early

access to new videos priority replies to

your comments and to have your say on

future content consider becoming a fact

toate member on top of that your support

helps keep the channel going click the

link in the description for more detail

[Music]

after securing Financial backing from

his friend Simon shriman he assembled

his orchestra and by Spring 1938 Miller

was finally feeling like things were

happening he was garnering a reputation

around the New York area and then he got

a call that would change

[Music]

everything The Glenn Island Casino had

launched many careers and Miller was

Lely thrilled to have the chance to play

there when he and his band showed up to

the casino they were absolutely stunned

1,800 people had shown up for Miller’s

act by the following year Time Magazine

reported that of the dozen or so songs

found in most jukeboxes in America at

least two and sometimes up to six of

them were Millers he was taking America

by storm

[Music]

when his version of Tuxedo Junction had

opening week sales of

115,000 it was time for his career to go

into

[Music]

[Applause]

orbit on October 6th 1939 Miller played

every musician’s dream venue Carnegie

Hall it didn’t take long before

Hollywood Came Calling 20th Century Fox

was making the musical comedy Sun Valley

Serenade and they asked Miller to

provide the music and even play a role

in the end he did more than just make an

appearance in the film he provided a

showstopping sequence that went down in

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

history even though the film takes place

at a ski resort in Idaho the director

wanted to work in a song that would

really let Miller shine this was

Chattanooga Chuchu and it had nothing to

do with skiing at all but that didn’t

matter the sequence ended up being a

stunning 8 minutes long including tap

dancing and wow

[Music]

audiences the song itself became the

first gold record ever selling 1.2

million

copies Glenn Miller wasn’t only serious

about music he was also serious about

his country when World War II started he

was ready to sign up but there were two

problems first off the draft wasn’t

calling on married men at that time also

Miller wore glasses which made it even

more unlikely that he’d get the call

from Uncle

Sam Miller’s Next plan was to use his

musical background to help his

country he sent a lengthy letter to a

general in the Army explaining that he

had a new and outlandish idea about

military music he wanted to add Jazz to

boost the soldiers

morale his application was approved and

he had one month to wrap up his Affairs

before

deployment on September 24th 1942 Glenn

Miller said goodbye to his fans on his

regular radio program he and his band

gave one final live performance at

Central theater in New Jersey and that

was that Miller bed farewell to music

[Music]

he was as busy in the military as he had

been as a civilian musician he screened

Personnel for bands and recruited new

musicians he was also responsible for a

radio production unit that would

broadcast in New York

City considering his success by the time

he enlisted Miller was used to doing

things his way and so his rebellious

attitude got him into

[Music]

trouble his use of jazz Arrangements

like blues and the night for the

marching bands didn’t go over well he

had to fight with the purists and

eventually he won Miller had almost

single-handedly changed military music

forever in May 1944 a cable arrived from

General Dwight D Eisenhower he wanted

Miller and his unit sent to Europe he

felt that Miller was the only one who

could give the fighting men a much

needed boost to their morale

[Music]

on June 19th Miller flew to London and

into the center of World War

II he and his band first set up home in

a BBC Radio office this was in the

middle of an area of London where the

constant sound of German explosives

could be heard he arranged to move his

unit to a quieter place and his timing

turned out to be impeccable

a day later that BBC office was bombed

the explosion destroyed the entire

building and 150 people lost their

lives while in the UK Glenn Miller

worked closely with David Nan who would

go on to become an Academy Award winning

actor together Miller and Nevan planned

to move the unit to France where they

could entertain at hospitals and for

troops on leave from the

battle when the plans for the relocation

went behind schedule Nan promoted Miller

to executive officer this meant that he

would go to France earlier to make the

arrangements for his band Nan initially

booked Miller on a December 14th flight

to Paris which ended up being cancelled

due to bad

weather as a result he was then invited

by Lieutenant Colonel Norman Basel to

fly to Paris with him the following day

Basel was taking a nerine UC 64a norsman

which was a small single engine plane

because of Miller’s travel orders he had

no authorization to get on the plane

with Basel he did it anyway and because

of this no one officially knew where he

was on December 15th just before 2: p.m.

the plane took off from RAF twinwood

Farm no one ever saw Miller Basel or the

pilot

again the morning following Miller’s

flight the Allies were caught off guard

by German forces and a major battle

began later dubbed the Battle of the

Bulge for this reason no one seemed to

notice that Miller’s plane had

disappeared it took an astonishing 9

days to realize he was

missing when the Allied Forces finally

realized two senior officers went in

person to see Helen Miller at her home

and break the news Miller’s wife was

speechless the couple had just adopted a

son Steven but it gets even more

heartbreaking they had also adopted

another child this time a girl named

Johnny and Miller hadn’t even met her as

Helen grappled with what had happened it

was time to tell the

world on Christmas Eve 1944 an

announcement was made to the media

legendary band leader Glenn Miller had

disappeared and no one knew where he was

Jerry gray stepped in to take Miller’s

place and the Christmas concert went

[Music]

ahead most people at the time assumed

that Glenn Miller and his plane had

crashed for two reasons there was fog

that day and there was the potential of

ice being on the wings of course there

were a lot more far-fetched theories

about what happened to

Miller some believe that it was the

Germans who shot down the plane and that

Miller specifically was a Target this

Theory suggests that Miller was part of

a secret mission and that the Germans

captured

him but there’s another theory that

places the blame much closer to home in

2000 SES auctioned off a log book from

World War II the writer of the book was

also in the sky the night Miller’s plane

disappeared Derek Thurman said that he

was on a raid of Germany that night and

the usual practice was to dump any

unused explosives in the sea before

returning home he claims that he and

three of his crew saw a small plane

headed in the opposite direction which

easily could have been Miller’s plane

Unfortunately they suspected that the

explosives they had intended to drop

into the sea probably hit Miller’s plane

the rear Gunner apparently saw the

disaster with his own eyes he said that

he saw Miller’s plane flip over and

enter the ocean that entire area was

supposed to be clear of any aircraft so

the next thing to figure out was why

Miller’s plane was there in the first

place a possible solution to the mystery

of the root Miller’s plane toque came

from a bizarre

Source in 2012 San anderton tried to

sell his brother’s old notebooks on the

BBC’s Antiques Road show as it turned

out anderton’s brother was a plane

spotter when he was a teenager he kept

meticulous records of all the planes he

saw pass over him while he was working

somewhere in these books could be the

answer to Miller’s

disappearance authorities realized that

the spotter’s location would have given

him a direct view of Miller’s plane what

they learned from the notes was that the

plane was on schedule and on the correct

course this threw the friendly fire

Theory out the window then another

surprising find would bring us closer to

the

truth back in 1987 a fisherman had made

a a shocking Discovery he found a plane

in his Nets but had to let it slide back

into the sea years later he saw a photo

of Miller’s plane and realized it could

be the same one with his help

authorities eventually located the

wreckage near Dorset England this

fisherman may have solved the mystery of

Miller’s disappearance but we still

don’t know for

sure the International Group for

historic aircraft recovery has worked to

determine if the wreckage is actually

Miller’s aircraft unfortunately there’s

still no concrete proof but it does

remain a

possibility after Glenn Miller’s bizarre

disappearance his son Steven had to put

up with conspiracies until he got so fed

up he decided to try to solve the

mystery himself he hired an expert on

his father’s life Dennis sprag who had

spent years looking for Clues finally He

Came Upon military documents that hadn’t

been examined

before because of these documents sprag

now believes that the fuel intakes on

Miller’s plane froze and caused it to go

down over the English Channel sadly

Steven passed away in 2012 before he got

to know what really happened to his

father the inimitable Glenn

Miller if you enjoyed this fate video

give it a thumbs up and subscribe for

more incredible stories if you want to

say in who we cover next join our

membership program through the link in

the description for exclusive perks your

support means everything to us thanks

for watching and we’ll see you in the

next one