Eric Miller – one of our clever pro-life Christian warriors
Eric Miller has been fighting to defend life from conception to its natural end for a very long time now. And actually it is hard to imagine an area of pro-life Christian activity in Perth where he isn’t contributing in some way or other.
Eric helps at the rallies at Parliament House every year of course. In fact, this clever man makes the ‘beating hearts’ that hundreds of people wear at that rally.
He is also a long-time member of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. It is in this role that Eric (one of Helen Sawyer’s many soldiers) has prayed outside Perth’s two main abortion clinics year after year. When the McGowan state government saw fit to pass the so-called ‘bubble law’, outlawing this public prayer, Eric simply shifted his focus to the 40DFL prayer vigils outside Parliament.
He has also participated in the Right to Life Association’s walks including the recent ‘Seven Churches Walk’ and he is a prominent member of the Coalition for the Defence of Human Life. Eric just gets on with the job, quietly working in the background, never drawing attention to himself.
Pro-life Christian people are often dismissed by the secular world as being irrelevant, one-issue people. They are viewed as uneducated, inexperienced people who can’t understand the current world’s issues. They are seen as unsuitable for politics or community leadership.
Yet nothing is further from the truth – and Eric is an excellent example of our clever people.
Eric is a retired air force pilot. He had already started his training before national service gave him the opportunity to qualify and gain experience in the Royal Australian Air Force. His early training was on Chipmunks and Tiger Moths but later it was Convair 440s and DC3 aircraft. And he was not just limited to Australia; he and wife Val and family spent time in Malaysia as he pursued his flying career.
Eric had many career highlights. Perhaps the most important of these was the fact that he flew Sir Robert Menzies on official duties during Menzies’ second term as Prime Minister!
Sir Robert was Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister. Eric knew him to be a formidable yet friendly man who commanded the room or, in this case, the aircraft cabin.
After the Air Force Eric flew Viscounts, Twin Otter, Fokker F28, F50, Bae146 and B737 aircraft.
