On the morning of December 7 , 1941 , Mess Attendant 2nd Class Doris Miller wasdoinglaundry below deck of cards of the battleship USSWest Virginia , yet another in an interminable serial publication of menial tasks to which he had been designate .
Moments later , he was keep back the ship ’s dying commanding officer in his arms as a fleet of Japanese airplane attempted to blare theWest Virginia , and other ship like it , into oblivion .
Miller dragged his victor , Captain Mervyn Sharp Bennion , to a smirch underneath the portside pom-pom gun for hire . All around him was topsy-turvyness : soldier running , flame bursting , torpedoes rock the vessel . Oil slicked the Earth’s surface . The ship began listing , the accrued wrong threatening to sink theWestVirginiaand everyone on board .
ineffectual to do anything for his captain , Miller looked to the sky , where Nipponese paladin planes were buzzing overhead . Despite the fact he had never been prepare to run a Browning machine gun , he grabbed keep , point , and start firing .
Doris “ Dorie ” Miller had enlisted in the United States Navyeven though he knew full well he would be a 2nd - class sailor not only in rank but also in race . When Miller joined up as a 19 - class - former in September 1939 , the Navy took a prejudicial attitude toward inglorious officers . They were n’t eligible for promotion , were typically depute to subservient tasks , and wereexpectedto dote on the white ship’s officer , even go so far as to shine their shoes . They were n’t even allowed to wear the Navy ’s linchpin - and - chain button insignia .
Miller brave these indignities because he felt he had no other options . Dorie , whose grandparent had been enslaved , was born in Waco , Texas , on October 12 , 1919 , to sharecroppers Connery and Henrietta Miller . He dropped out of high schoolhouse to make money for his kinsfolk but found few Job or opportunities beyond being a restaurant cook . The Navy , he once said , “ beats sit down around Waco function as a waiter’s assistant , going nowhere . ”
Millerenlistedin the Navy in Dallas and , shortly after hold up through a segregated boot cantonment , was impute to theWest Virginia , which get hold itself at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu , Hawaii , in January 1940 . Like other Black Naval crewman , Miller was relegated to laundry , preparation , and cleaning . None were trained to use weapons , only to feed ammunition to officer behind the initiation .
When the Japanese attack theWest Virginiaon December 7 , Miller ran from the laundry sphere to the cartridge — the spot on the ship where he was expected to rescue ammunition . But it was flooded , and so Miller kept moving , where he encountered Lieutenant Commander Dior C. Johnson . Miller was rate to drag the wounded Captain Bennion to safety . He did the same for others below pack of cards , wadingthrough waist - deep water to do so . ( While not trained in combat , Miller was a former football game thespian and the ship ’s fisticuffs friend . )
Then he began feeding ammo to a superscript military officer operating one of the Browning machine gunslinger that used .50 calibre ammunition . There were two — one of them unoccupied .
Despite the Navy never having instruct him how to use the weapon system , Miller quickly assumed control and began firing , absorbing brief teaching shouted by Lieutenant j.g . Frederic H. White . The accelerator pedal yell fire from its barrels as Miller aimed it at the incoming planes .
“ It was n’t hard , ” Miller by and by said . “ I just pulled the gun trigger and she worked fine . I had check the others with these throttle . I guess I kindle her for about 15 minutes . I think I got one of those planes . They were diving passably close to us . ”
Both adult male go forward shooting until their ammo ran out . When it became clean that flight was their only option , Miller and the relaxation of the man took to the ship ’s boat deck , where Miller began pulling sailors from water that was engulfed in flames from the oil . As the ship lapse , Miller swam to set ashore 300 railway yard aside , ardor and bullets creating a kind of obstacle trend as he larrup to safety .
Though the Japanese had sunk or disable seven of the eight American ships in the fleet , only 106 of the 1541 member of theWest Virginiacrew perished . Miller ’s actions had doubtless give to sailors make it the attempt .
In the aftermath , the question was n’t whether Miller had committed a issue of brave acts — it was whether the Navy would acknowledge him for his self-sacrifice .
Tales of Miller ’s heroics began circulating in the media almost immediately , with both the Navy and journalists declaring it an amazing display of bravery . Yet there seemed to be no importunity in identify Miller by name . Even the Navy ’s own Honor Roll of Race Relations in 1941 intended to issue citation that mentioned the incident , but not Miller specifically . His name did n’t appear in print until March 1942 : The Pittsburgh Courier , one of the country ’s most authoritative Black newspaper , identifiedMiller and wrote of his bravery .
“ Messman Hero Identified , ” the front Thomas Nelson Page blared . Miller had join other warfare hoagie who had “ inscribed their names in the cerise ink of rude courage … the ‘ phantom brigade ’ of fighting Black man , whose human activity have become immortalized in the record book of American history ! ”
Incredibly , there was opposition to Miller being grant the Medal of Honor , with lawmakers like Carl Vinson , the House of Representatives ’s chairwoman of Naval Affairs , arguing that Miller had n’t done enough to deserve the acknowledgment . White straw hat who display similar grace under pressure were named , awarded , and sometimes sent home to advertize warfare bonds . Miller , meanwhile , had been assigned to a new ship in the South Pacific , theIndianapolis , where he was again stationed as a messman , performing menial tasks .
But pressure was wax on the Navy — not just to recognize Miller , but to rethink the organization ’s treatment of its Black skimmer . Secretary of the Navy William Franklin Knox , who had opposed Miller receiving the Medal of Honor , tried to repair the situation by announcing that contraband recruit would be train in gunnery work , as well as radio receiver and radar specialties an at all - Black training quickness in Great Lakes , Illinois . The following calendar month , President Franklin Roosevelt endorse Miller sustain the Navy Cross for his action . On May 27 , 1942 , Admiral Chester W. Nimitz lend the award , which Miller jubilantly assume .
That was follow by a long - delinquent return home . Miller go bad on a speaking go for several months and was even sport on a Navy recruitment poster before being assigned to the USSLiscome Bay , an bodyguard mailman that draw off criticism for its doubtful engine room . Sadly , on November 24 , 1943 , the newsboy was hit by a crampfish from the Japanese , and the damage was insuperable . Over 600 men die , include Miller . He had just move around 24 .
Miller was a central figure in the civil rights movement taking place in the war machine . In May 1942 , the same calendar month Miller received the Navy Cross , Robert Lee Thornton was verify in as the Navy’sfirstBlack fiddling police officer . By 1944 , the Navy had introduced an officer preparation program for Black sailors .
In 1973 , the Navy nominate an escort shipMillerafter the champion of Pearl Harbor . legion adroitness in Waco , including a YMCA , a park , and a burying ground all bear his name . In 2020 , the Navy announce it would name an aircraft carriercurrentlyunder structure after Dorie Miller . It is the first fourth dimension such a vessel will hold the name of a Black boater — one whose name was concealed and who was once forbidden to wear the Navy ’s button insignia .
As theCourierwrote back in 1942 : “ No longer is his name obscure . ”
