The Region - News from Jan. 31, 1985

Former Orange County Supervisor Edison W. Miller won a battle to clear his name of claims that he acted to the detriment of his fellow prisoners while a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years. U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell of Washington criticized the Navy Department and ordered it to expunge a letter of censure that former Navy Secretary John W. Warner put in Miller’s file in 1973. Gesell wrote that the record from two military hearings and from evidence before Warner “contains no grounds for any decision but one to expunge.” Without a hearing, Warner publicly censured Miller in the letter, saying, among other things, that Miller had accepted favors from the North Vietnamese to the detriment of fellow POWs. That kind of claim, Miller’s attorney, Richard L. Swick said, is akin to a criminal charge and requires the Navy to give Miller an opportunity to be heard. “Not a single person saw Ed Miller do anything wrong,” Swick said.