Because he was black, Navy sailor Doris Miller was relegated to shining officers' shoes, making beds, and serving meals in the kitchen. Then his heroics at Pearl Harbor earned him the Navy Cross.
U.S. Navy / Wikimedia CommonsDoris Miller , the first African - American to earn the Navy Cross for valor , in May of 1942 .
Doris Miller , bonk as Dorie to his friends and shipmate , was a U.S. Navy sailor who want to move around the earthly concern and support his family . But because he was black , he was forced to work in the kitchen as a ship ’s cook , third class — until fate interceded .
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor , Doris Miller flick into action and distinguished himself in combat — a role his white victor never thought he was cut out for . He manned a car gun amid the chaos and even tend to the wounds of the very soldiers who ’d been part of a organisation that had been keeping him down ever since he first enlisted .
U.S. Navy/Wikimedia CommonsDoris Miller, the first African-American to earn the Navy Cross for valor, in May of 1942.
But in the conclusion , Doris Miller not only earned the respect he deserved , he help plunge a panoptic get-up-and-go for racial equivalence in America — even if he never lived to see it number to realisation .
Dealing With Adversity From The Start
Miller was accept on Oct. 12 , 1919 , in Waco , Texas . His parent , Henrietta and Conery Miller , had four son total . Miller was athletic and he played fullback for Moore High School in Waco . After high school , he decide to enlist in the Navy where he became a cook .
No one tangled with Miller and walk away easy , on the ship or off . His heavyweight championship was no minor feat since theWest Virginiahad 2,000 men on table .
In damage of hisordinary duties , Miller , like other African - American sailors of his day , was by and large relegated to military service - based roles on ships . The Navy did not allow Panama hat of gloss to enlist in armed combat roles . Even with this blatant racialism on circuit board , Miller serve his ship proudly as a ship ’s cook .
After brief training at gunnery school on board theUSS Nevada(that breeding would prove vitally of import subsequently on ) , he return to theWest Virginiain early August of 1940 . Miller ’s ship eventually found its way of life to Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , as part of the Pacific Fleet .
It was at Pearl Harbor that Doris Miller made his mark on American account .
Doris Miller’s Date With Destiny
He arrived on duty at 6 a.m. by starting breakfast for the ship ’s officers . He was doing washing below decks when general quarter sound . Doris Miller ’s struggle station was the flak assault and battery magazine amidship . When he arrived on deck , Miller find his gun was damaged by a Japanese Italian sandwich .
U.S. Navy / Wikimedia CommonsExplosions rock’n’roll Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 , 1941 .
An officer ordered Miller to aid carry the wounded off the primary deck . Miller ’s former role as a fullback on his high school day football game team suited him well . After rescuing several shipmates , all the while bombs and hero sandwich were exploding in Pearl Harbor , he was enjoin to empty Capt . Mervyn Bennion off the bridge because he was wounded . The captain refused to abandon his position , and he kick the bucket from his combat injury .
unshaken , Doris Miller and two other crewmates loaded two 50 - calibre Browning anti - aircraft machine guns . One work party member give the axe one , while Miller , despite having no breeding on these guns whatsoever , fire the 2d . The third gang fellow member went between both torpedo to load them .
Miller describe what it was like firing a machine gun at incoming aircraft . “ It was n’t heavy . I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine . I had watched the others with these guns . I guess I fire her for about fifteen minutes . I think I got one of those Jap plane . They were diving pretty close to us . ”
Crewmates dispute the fact that Doris Miller shoot down a plane , but that ’s only because other ships were firing their anti - aircraft gun at the divebombing Japanese planes . Even if Miller did n’t get a plane , the rampart of bullets shout towards the planes prevented even bad losses in Pearl Harbor .
After the Japanese planes left , Doris Miller helped rescue shipmate from the water before theWest Virginiasank with 130 men drink down .
Miller Leaves His Mark On History
News of Doris Miller ’s bravery take time to reach the upper echelon of authorities . On Dec. 15 , 1941 , the Navy released its commendations for actions in Pearl Harbor . The list admit one “ unknown Negro . ” It was n’t until March of 1942 , at the behest of the NAACP , that the Navy formally recognized Miller ’s valiance .
The United States needed good word and expansive deed following the bombing of Pearl Harbor , and Miller ’s was one such story .
Sen. James Mead of New York inclose a banker’s bill to award him the Medal of Honor , but that effort failed . Doris Miller received the Navy Cross , the secondly - high award for military service , for his actions on Dec. 7 , 1941 .
U.S. Navy/Wikimedia CommonsExplosions rock Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
In his citation of April 1 , 1942 , Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox compose :
“ For distinguished devotion to duty , sinful braveness and disregard of his personal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 . While at the side of his Captain on the bridgework , Miller despite enemy strafe and bombing , and in the face of serious fire , assisted in moving his Captain , who had been mortally wounded , to a place of greater safety and later manned and operate a automobile gun until ordered to pull up stakes the span . ”
U.S. Navy / Wikimedia CommonsAdm . Chester Nimitz award Doris Miller the Navy Cross on circuit card the USS Enterprise .
U.S. Navy/Wikimedia CommonsAdm. Chester Nimitz awarding Doris Miller the Navy Cross on board the USS Enterprise.
Adm. Chester Nimitz , a Navy legend , in person pinned the Navy Cross to Miller ’s left breast sac onboard the aircraft newsboy USS Enterprise on May 27 , 1942 . Nimitz say , “ This marks the first time in this conflict that such high tribute has been made in the Pacific Fleet to a phallus of his race and I ’m sure that the future will see others similarly honored for brave acts . ”
Miller was the first African - American man honored with the Navy Cross .
Doris Miller’s Legacy
Sadly , Doris Miller died in action on November 24 , 1943 , onboard theUSS Liscome Bayin the Pacific Ocean . The fresh constructed ship was an escort letter carrier , and a exclusive Japanese crampfish drop down the watercraft off the sea-coast of Butaritari Island . Two - thirds of the ship ’s work party died with the ship because it sank quickly .
But that ’s not the goal of Miller ’s story .
U.S. NavyDoris Miller wearing his Navy Cross during his visit to the Naval Training Station in Great Lakes , Illinois on Jan. 7 , 1943 .
U.S. NavyDoris Miller wearing his Navy Cross during his visit to the Naval Training Station in Great Lakes, Illinois on Jan. 7, 1943.
This started a roll - back of the Navy ’s policy of racial segregation . The military then fully integrated African - American men into whole with whites . Some mod scholar even maintain that Doris Miller ’s action at Pearl Harbor in 1941 started a range of mountains of effect that led to the Civil Rights drive .
Recognition Eight Decades Later
Mass Communication 2nd Class Justin R. Pacheco / NavyThe family of Doris Miller unveils a brass record the aircraft carrier named in his honor at Pearl Harbor on Jan. 20 , 2020 .
Though Doris Miller received the Navy Cross and thus secured his place in history among U.S. sailors , his story often went overlooked . But in 2020 , nearly 80 year after he prove himself a bomber , he won a whole new degree of recognition unlike anything in American history .
On Martin Luther King Day , theU.S. Navy honored Millerby making him the first back man in U.S. history to have an aircraft bearer make after him . The USSDoris Milleris now officially schedule to plunge in 2028 .
Mass Communication 2nd Class Justin R. Pacheco/NavyThe family of Doris Miller unveils a plaque commemorating the aircraft carrier named in his honor at Pearl Harbor on Jan. 20, 2020.
“ I mean that Doris Miller is an American torpedo simply because of what he represent as a untried adult male going beyond the call of what ’s expected , ” said Doreen Ravenscroft , chairperson of Cultural Arts of Waco ( Texas ) and squad loss leader for the Doris Miller Memorial , ahead of the appointment ceremonial occasion . “ Without him really knowing , he actually was a part of the civil rights movement because he deepen the thinking in the Navy . ”
At the naming ceremonial occasion , further tribute to Miller rolled in as official paid homage to the mankind who had perhaps never unfeignedly gotten his full due .
“ As we observe the bequest of Martin Luther King Jr. , we acknowledge that for too many of these warriors the familiarity they defended oversea was denied to them and their kin here at home simply because of the colour of their skin , ” said Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly .
fit in to Modly , the new ship will be the most muscular ever progress — a fitting testimonial to Doris Miller , a man who showed unimaginable strength in the font of adversity .
After larn about Doris Miller and his valour at Pearl Harbor , read aboutHenry Johnsonand theHarlem Hellfighters , the leave out smutty heroes of World War I.
