Army Spc. Scott Miller, a Byfield native now of Newton, N.H., was promoted to sergeant yesterday in a place far from the battlefields where he served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

Maj. Gen. Joseph Carter, adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, presented Miller, 34, with his promotion papers in a hospital room at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where doctors are treating him for incurable neuroendocrine cancer.

It was detected last month as colon cancer while he was in Iraq, and has since spread to his liver.

Miller wrote As I See It columns for The Daily News and recently e-mailed reports from Baghdad that were published in this newspaper.

It was the second time Miller had been diagnosed with a serious condition. Five years ago, he survived a rare brain tumor, detected while he was on a tour overseas. He flew back to the United States for surgery at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where surgeons successfully removed the nonmalignant tumor.

But Miller had some post-operative complications — blood clots. The clots returned in February while he was in Iraq, and he was flown back to Walter Reed for tests. He began undergoing chemotherapy Feb. 28 at Walter Reed, and was eventually transferred to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Yesterday's ceremony was a very special event, Miller's brother, Mark, said.

"It was one of those days where it was pretty emotional, but the support he's been getting from the National Guard and the Army has been phenomenal and gone a long way in helping him fight this," Mark Miller said. "That's what he needs at this point."

Scott Miller was hooked up to an IV and undergoing chemotherapy when Carter arrived, according to hospital staff. The two men shook hands. Moments later, Miller stood at attention before Carter and a contingent from the National Guard's 972nd Military Police Company.

According to hospital spokesman William Schaller, Miller's family — including Alex, his wife of eight months — his doctors and nurses, and soldiers from his unit watched as Carter presented the stripes, promotion papers and a plaque. Miller's platoon in Iraq also listened to the ceremony over a speaker phone, Maj. Jack McKenna said.

"It was a very moving ceremony," Schaller said.

During the ceremony, Miller said he was proud to be a sergeant, the backbone of the Army and the Army's top noncommissioned officer rank.

"He's a rock," Mark Miller said of his brother, referring to everything he has endured since first being diagnosed with the tumor five years ago. He also credits Alex for helping her husband through this latest ordeal.

Scott Miller and his wife could not be reached for additional comment yesterday. Schaller said he was undergoing chemotherapy and felt drained after the ceremony.

Miller graduated from Elon College in North Carolina. In 2000, he joined the National Guard to help prepare for a career in law enforcement, enlisting with the 972nd Military Police Company in Melrose, Mass.

He also worked as a counselor at Solstice in Rowley, a school and residence for teens with emotional challenges.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, his company was activated and ordered to supervise private security guards at Logan Airport. The following year, he was assigned to airport security overseas.

He also traveled to New Orleans with his National Guard unit following Hurricane Katrina. Until his most recent diagnosis, he had been stationed in Baghdad.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.