When Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Alexandra Miller came to Arlington National Cemetery on March 8, 2024, she brought with her 104 students from the United States Senate Youth Program to see the changing of the guard and to lay a wreath. But she brought something just for herself, not typically seen by others.
Tucked into her service dress cap, she keeps a picture of her grandfather in his U.S. Army uniform. “He’s my inspiration for being in the service,” she explained. Her grandfather, Irving Mauran, served in Europe during World War II and later served as a bodyguard for prosecutors at the Nuremberg trials.
Miller, a native of Westport, New York, remembered her grandfather as a strong, stoic man who never spoke about military service yet loved to tell jokes. “I aspire to be a lot like him,” she said.
Miller first put her grandfather’s photo into her cap as a U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadet. “They told us we could keep a loved one in our cover,” she said. Upon graduating in 2010, she continued the practice. “It reminds me of why I do it, those who came before me, and why I need to continue my service.”
Miller serves as the waterways management division chief at Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, California. In addition, as the senior mentor for the United States Senate Youth Program, she brings aspiring high school students to the Washington, D.C., area to expose them to public service, which concludes with a trip to Arlington National Cemetery.
While waiting in the cemetery’s Memorial Amphitheater as the students prepared to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Miller reflected on previous wreath layings she’s witnessed at ANC. “I’ve never left not in tears,” she said. “It helps us understand the gravity of the choices we’ve made in our call to the service while also making sure we’re honoring those who came before us.”
That is why Arlington National Cemetery exists: to give people a place to remember, honor, and be inspired by America’s fallen.
