Honoring those who gave their lives at Pearl Harbor.

Honoring those who gave their lives at Pearl Harbor

Doris "Dorie" Miller (October 12, 1919 – November 24, 1943) was a cook in the United States Navy noted for his bravery during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

 He was the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross, the third highest honor awarded by the U.S. Navy at the time, after the Medal of Honor and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. The Navy Cross now precedes the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

 Miller's acts were heavily publicized in the black press, making him the iconic emblem of the war for blacks—their "Number One Hero"—thereby energizing black support for the war effort against a colored Japanese enemy.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, Miller awoke at 0600. After serving breakfast mess, he was collecting laundry when the first of nine torpedoes to hit the West Virginia was launched at 0757 by Lt. Commander Shigeharu Murata of the Japanese carrier Akagi. 

Miller headed for his battle station, an antiaircraft battery magazine amidship, only to discover that torpedo damage had destroyed it.

He went instead to "Times Square", a central spot where the fore to aft and port to starboard passageways crossed, and reported himself available for other duty. 

Miller was spotted by Lieutenant Commander Doir C. Johnson, the ship's communications officer, who ordered the powerfully built sailor to accompany him to the bridge to assist with moving the ship's Captain Mervyn Bennion, who had a gaping wound in his abdomen where he had apparently been hit by shrapnel.

 Miller and another sailor lifted the skipper and, unable to remove him from the bridge, carried him from an exposed position on the damaged bridge to a sheltered spot behind the conning tower.

 The Captain refused to leave his post and questioned his officers about the condition of the ship, giving various orders. The Captain remained on the bridge until his death.

Lieutenant Frederic H. White ordered Miller to help him and Ensign Victor Delano load the unmanned #1 and #2 Browning .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns aft of the conning tower. 

Miller wasn't familiar with the machine gun, but White and Delano told him what to do. Miller had served both men as a room steward and knew them well. 

Delano expected Miller to feed ammunition to one gun, but his attention was diverted, and when he looked again Miller was firing one of the guns. White had loaded ammo into both guns and assigned Miller the starboard gun.

Miller fired the gun until he ran out of ammo, when he was ordered by Lieutenant Claude V. Ricketts along with Lt. White and Chief Signalman A.A. Siewart to help carry the Captain up to the navigation bridge out of the thick oily smoke generated by the many fires on and around the ship.

 Bennion was only partially conscious at this point and died soon after. 

Japanese aircraft eventually dropped two armor-piercing bombs through the deck of the battleship and launched five 18 in (460 mm) aircraft torpedoes into her port side.

 When the attack finally lessened, Lt. White ordered Miller to help move injured sailors through oil and water to the quarterdeck, thereby "unquestionably saving the lives of a number of people who might otherwise have been lost.

With the ship heavily damaged by the bombs, torpedoes and following explosions, the crew prevented her from capsizing by counter-flooding a number of compartments, and the West Virginia sank to the harbor bottom as her crew—including Miller—abandoned ship.

Commendation

On December 15, Miller was transferred to the Indianapolis. 

On January 1, 1942, the Navy released a list of commendations for actions on December 7. Among them was a single commendation for an unnamed Negro. 

The NAACP asked President Franklin D. Roosevelt to award the Distinguished Service Cross to the unknown Negro sailor.

 The Navy Board of Awards in Washington D. C. received a recommendation that the sailor be considered for recognition.

 On March 12, 1942, Dr. Lawrence D. Reddick announced, after corresponding with the Navy, that the name of the unknown Negro sailor was "Doris Miller.

 The next day, Senator James N. Mead (D-NY) introduced a Senate Bill [Senate Reso S.2392] to award Miller the Medal of Honor, although he did not yet know the basis for Miller's deeds. 

Four days later, Representative John D. Dingell, Sr. (D-MI) introduced a matching bill [H.R.6800]. 

On March 21, The Pittsburgh Courier initiated a write-in campaign to send Miller to the Naval Academy.

Miller was recognized as one of the "first heroes of World War II.

 He was commended in a letter signed by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox on April 1, 1942, and the next day CBS radio broadcast an episode of the series, "They Live Forever", which dramatized Miller's actions.

 On May 27, 1942 Miller was personally recognized by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise. 

Nimitz presented Miller with the Navy Cross, the third-highest award for gallantry during combat that the Navy awarded at the time. Miller was cited for:

“...distinguished devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and disregard of his personal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. 

While at the side of his Captain on the bridge, Miller despite enemy strafing 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 operated a machine gun until ordered to leave the bridge.

Nimitz told Miller, "This marks the first time in this conflict that such high tribute has been made in the Pacific Fleet to a member of his race and I'm sure that the future will see others similarly honored for brave acts."[8] Negro organizations began a campaign to give Miller additional recognition.

 The All-Southern Negro Youth Conference on April 17–19, 1942 launched a signature campaign.

 On May 10, the National Negro Congress denounced Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox's recommendation against awarding Miller the Medal of Honor. 

However, on May 11, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the Navy Cross for Miller. Miller was presented the Navy Cross on May 27, 1942.

WWII Service

Miller was promoted to Mess Attendant First Class on June 1, 1942. On June, 27, The Pittsburgh Courier called for Miller to be allowed to return home for a war bond tour like white heroes.

 On November 23, Miller returned to Pearl Harbor and was ordered on a war bond tour while still attached to the heavy cruiser Indianapolis. 

In December 1942 and January 1943, he gave talks in Oakland, California, in his hometown of Waco, Texas, in Dallas, and to the first graduating class of African-American sailors from Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Chicago.

In its February 6, 1943 issue, the Pittsburgh Courier continued to hammer to return Miller for a war bond tour. 

The caption to Miller′s photo in the article read, "He fought...Keeps Mop", while another hero of the Pearl Harbor attack received an officer's commission.

 It said that Miller was "too important waiting tables in the Pacific to return him", even though in fact he was already on tour.

Miller reported for duty at Puget Sound Navy Yard on May 15, 1943. 

He was made a Petty Officer, Ship′s Cook Third Class, on June 1 when he reported to the escort carrier Liscome Bay.

Death

After training in Hawaii, the Liscome Bay took part in the Battle of Makin Island beginning on November 20. 

On November 24, the ship was struck in the stern by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-175. 

The aircraft bomb magazine detonated a few moments later, causing the ship to sink within minutes.

 There were 272 survivors from the crew of over 900, but Miller was not among them. Along with two-thirds of the crew, he was listed as "presumed dead".

 Two years after his heroic actions at Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1943, Miller′s parents were informed that their son was "Missing in action".

A memorial service was held on April 30, 1944, at the Waco, Texas, Second Baptist Church, sponsored by the Victory Club. On 28 May, a granite marker was dedicated at Moore High School to honor Doris Miller. 

On 25 November 1944, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal announced to the public that Miller was "presumed dead".

Bills were quickly introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to award Miller the Medal of Honor, but Georgia Democrat Carl Vinson, the House of Representatives’ Chairman of Naval Affairs, averred that Miller’s deeds were not deserving of the nation’s highest award for valor; Secretary of the Navy William Franklin Knox and the congressional delegation from Miller’s home state seconded him.

 Both at the time and since, numerous historians and political leaders have argued that gallant as were the sacrifices of the 16 men—all of them white and most officers and petty officers—who were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions that day, Dorie Miller’s exploits were at least of equal distinction, and all the more to be honored because of the oppressive racial stigma under which he performed so heroically.