Archives West Finding Aid

Donald Leon Mills was born 12 August 1924 in Port Orchard, Washington to Lloyd D. Mills and Lucy Mills. Mills married Audrey A. Johnson on 18 October 1936. He joined the University of Idaho in 1942 before taking a leave of absence in 1943 to join the United States Army. Mills received ASTP Radio Operator School in Syracuse, New York. He was part of the 104th Infantry, worked as a company clerk and as a Scout rising to the rank of Private First Class. He served on the European Front, primarily in Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe. He was awarded the following medals: World War II Victory Medal, American Theater Campaign Medal, European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Croix De Guerre with Palm, French Fourragere, Good Conduct Medal. He was honorably discharged from the Army on 8 January 1946 and then from the Navy as a Seaman Apprentice on 29 May 1953 following years of inactivity. After World War II, Mills returned to the University of Idaho and received a Bachelor of Music in either 1947 or 1948. Mills and his wife immigrated to Canada in 1961. Audrey Johnson Mills died 2 April 2023. Don L. Mills died 25 December 2023.