Doris Miller

Doris "Dorie" Miller (October 12, 1919 – November 24, 1943) was an American Naval cook who was the first Black recipient of the Navy Cross and a nominee for the Medal of Honor.

As a mess attendant second class in the United States Navy, Miller helped carry wounded sailors to safety during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

He then manned an anti-aircraft gun and, despite no prior training in gunnery, officially shot down one plane (according to Navy Department Records) but Doris and other eye witnesses claimed the ranges of four to six.

Miller was born in Waco, Texas, on October 12, 1919, to Connery and Henrietta Miller.

He was named Doris, as the midwife who assisted his mother was convinced before his birth that the baby would be a girl.

He was the third of four sons and helped around the house, cooked meals and did laundry, as well as worked on the family farm.

He was a fullback on the football team at Waco's Alexander James Moore High School.

He began attending the eighth grade on January 25, 1937, at age 17; he repeated the grade the following year because of poor performance, so he decided to drop out of school.

He filled his time squirrel hunting with a .22 rifle and completed a correspondence course in taxidermy.

He applied to join the Civilian Conservation Corps but was not accepted.

At that time, he was 6 ft tall and weighed more than 200 lb. Miller worked on his father's farm until shortly before his 20th birthday.

Miller's nickname "Dorie" may have originated from a typographical error.

Miller enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a mess attendant third class at the Naval Recruiting Station in Dallas, Texas, for six years on September 16, 1939.

Mess attendant was one of the few ratings open at the time to black sailors.

He was transferred to the Naval Training Center, Naval Operating Base, Norfolk, Virginia, arriving on September 19.

After training school, he was assigned to the ammunition ship USS Pyro (AE-1) (AE-1) and then transferred on January 2, 1940, to the Colorado-class battleship West Virginia (BB-48).

It was on West Virginia where he started competition boxing, becoming the ship's heavyweight champion.

In July, he was on temporary duty aboard USS Nevada (BB-36) (BB-36) at Secondary Battery Gunnery School.

He returned to West Virginia on August 3.

Indeed, not a single Black sailor, soldier, or marine was awarded the Medal of Honor between 1941 and 1945, and in 1996 Vernon J. Baker was the only Black veteran of World War II to be awarded this decoration while yet alive.

He was nominated for recognition for his actions on December 7, 1941, and the Pittsburgh Courier released a story on March 14, 1942, which gave his name as "Dorie Miller".

Since then, some writers have suggested that it was a "nickname to shipmates and friends".

He advanced in rating to mess attendant second class on February 16, 1941.

Miller woke up at 6 a.m. on December 7, 1941, aboard West Virginia.

He served breakfast mess and was collecting laundry at 7:57 a.m. when planes from the JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Akagi fired the first of seven torpedoes that hit West Virginia.

The "battle stations" alarm went off; Miller headed for his battle station, an anti-aircraft battery magazine amidships, only to discover that a torpedo had destroyed it.

He then went to "Times Square" on deck, a central spot aboard the ship where the fore-to-aft and port-to-starboard passageways crossed, reporting himself available for other duty and was assigned to help carry wounded sailors to places of greater safety.

Lieutenant Commander Doir C. Johnson, the ship's communications officer, spotted Miller and saw his physical prowess, so he ordered him to accompany him to the conning tower on the flag bridge to assist in moving the ship's captain, Mervyn Bennion, who had a gaping wound in his abdomen where he had apparently been hit by shrapnel after the first Japanese attack.

Miller and another sailor lifted the skipper but were unable to remove him from the bridge, so they carried him on a cot from his exposed position on the damaged bridge to a sheltered spot on the deck behind the conning tower where he remained during the second Japanese attack.

Captain Bennion refused to leave his post, questioned his officers and men about the condition of the ship, and gave orders and instructions to crew members to defend the ship and fight.

Unable to go to the deck below because of smoke and flames, he was carried up a ladder to the navigation bridge, where he died from blood loss despite the aid from a pharmacist mate.

He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Miller received the Navy Cross from Admiral Chester Nimitz on May 27, 1942, but many sailors and naval officers believed that Miller's heroism deserved a Medal of Honor.

Miller was nominated for a Medal of Honor by a congressman from Michigan and a Senator from New York, and the Black press enthusiastically campaigned for Miller to receive this decoration.

However, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox—who opposed Black sailors serving the United States in any combat role—recommended against Miller receiving the Medal of Honor.

In June 1943, Miller was promoted to Cook Petty Officer, Third Class.

In November 1943, Miller was killed in action when his ship, the escort carrier USS Liscome Bay, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during the Battle of Makin in the Gilbert Islands.

The destroyer escort/Knox-class frigate USS Miller (reclassified as a frigate in June 1975), in service from 1973 to 1991, was named after him.

On January 19, 2020, the Navy announced that a Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear powered aircraft carrier, CVN-81, would be named after Miller.

The ship is scheduled to be laid down in 2026 and launched in 2029.