RIP Gramps, as you said; ‘it’s been a blast’!

This is a photo of my Grandfather Harold Miller who sadly passed away in hospice care on Thursday, his last wish was to live forever on the internet so hopefully you can help me get this post seen by as many people as possible.

I spent lots of time with him when I was growing up and he was always telling me stories about his past, my favorite story was when he worked as a coal miner in Leadville, Colorado. It was 1944 and all the town’s men were at war so children and animals were sent down the mines to dig the coal. My Grandfather was only 7 and he explained how all the children were split up put into teams of five alongside animals from the local community, in his shift, my Grandfather worked with two kittens called Fuzzy Feet and Bearnard, a hamster called chuckles and a baby elephant from the zoo called Popo.

My Grandfather told me about one time they arrived at work to start their shift but there had been a mine collapse! This was common at the time and very dangerous, another shift was stuck down the mine and nobody could reach them. Chuckles, who was the shift leader said ‘squeak squeak squeak, don’t worry, we’ll get them out’ and my Grandfather and his little friends went down the lift to try and help, they got to a part of the tunnel that was blocked with pieces of coal, Fuzzy Feet and Bearnard lept into action and started to claw away at some of the loose coal at the top of the pile, they managed to created a gap and Chuckles climbed through to take a look, he soon reappeared and said ‘squeak squeak squeak, they are alive, we just need to get this coal moved’. And then as quick as a flash my Grandfather and Popo who used her trunk dug out all the loose coal and the other shift were saved, there were two otters, a panda bear, a penguin and a little girl named Dorris.

My Grandfather was a hero and he explained how he and his little friends were invited to the white house to receive the medal of freedom from President Roosevelt! My Grandfather explained that as well as himself and his animal friends who were there to receive medals, there was also blues legend Muddy Waters and B.A. Baracus who played Mr T in the A-Team.

They got to meet the president and my Grandfather told me what a nice man he was, but…there was more to come! Just as they met the president, an alien spaceship landed on the white house lawn! All of a sudden, lots of little green men appeared, they’d come to capture the president and take over the planet! Chuckles quickly lept into action and said ‘don’t worry sir, we’ve got this!’. And along with Muddy Waters and B.A. Baracus, my Grandfather and his little friends ran onto the white house lawn. Thankfully, Muddy Waters had his blues band with him, so they were high in number, Popo let out a huge roar from her trunk which frightened the aliens, so much in fact they quickly ran back into their spaceship and flew off into space! Yay, the free world was saved!

The president thanked everybody for their help and said it was only a shame that he couldn’t give everybody two medals of freedom, ha ha ha, my how they laughed. Then Muddy Waters and his band played ‘I’ve got my mojo working’ and everybody joined in on the chorus!

I was with my Grandfather during his final moments, just before he passed he looked at me and said ‘it’s been a blast’, which I feel were quite fitting words from someone who once worked down a mine. Well thanks for reading folks, keep in touch and don’t forget to love ever and hurt never.