One good thing about having to detour is finding the unexpected - in this case, Glenn Miller's birthplace in Clarinda, Iowa.
At age 11 with money made from milking cows, Glenn Miller bought his first trombone, and was so good at it in his senior year of high school that he formed his own group to play "dance band" music. He dropped out of the University of Colorado at Boulder hoping to make a career as a professional musician. Glenn moved to New York in 1926 and joined Red Nichol's band and also played in the Broadway pit where his bandmates were Gene Kruppa and Benny Goodman.
In 1942 at the peak of his civilian career, Glenn decided to join the war effort. In 1944 he was to fly from the United Kingdom to Paris, France, but disappeared over the English Channel. No trace of the plane or crew has ever been found, and Glenn is listed as Missing In Action.
