A North Carolina-based Marine whose battle-grimed face became a symbol of the fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah last year has returned to his home in Kentucky.
Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller arrived at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Jan. 29 with Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. He came home to the town of Jonancy in Pike County for a three-week visit on Friday, arriving without fanfare. "He wouldn't let me tell anyone," said his mother, Maxie Webber. "No signs, no balloons, no nothing. He said 'I'm not a hero.'"A photograph of Miller, taken by a Los Angeles Times photographer and transmitted by The Associated Press, was in more than 100 newspapers and shown on network television. Miller, 20, was shown with camouflage paint smudged on his face, a bloody scratch on his nose and a cigarette drooping from the side of his mouth. He was exhausted and grimy after more than 12 hours of nonstop fighting.
Miller, a graduate of Shelby Valley High School, would agree to only one interview, which aired Tuesday on the CBS Early Show. Webber said her son wants to spend his leave with his family, rather than rehashing the painful memories of war. "I lost a few of some of my dearest friends," Miller said. "And people don't understand how you can be so close to someone that you've only known for such a short time. But when you spend a year and a half with someone, you know some things about them their own family doesn't even know about." Miller still is smoking, though he is considering dropping the habit. "I actually made a bet with some guys that if I made it out of Fallujah alive, I'd quit," he said.