Doris "Dorie"Miller (October 12, 1919 – November 24, 1943) was aU.S. Navy sailor who was the first black recipient of theNavy Cross and a nominee for theMedal of Honor. As a mess attendant second class[1][2] aboard thebattleshipUSS West Virginia, Miller helped carry wounded sailors to safety during theattack on Pearl Harbor. He then manned an anti-aircraft gun[3] and, despite no prior training in gunnery, officially shot down one plane (according to Navy Department records), but Miller and other eyewitnesses claimed a range of four to six.[4]
Miller received the Navy Cross from AdmiralChester Nimitz on May 27, 1942, but many sailors and naval officers believed that Miller's heroism deserved a Medal of Honor.[5] Miller was nominated for a Medal of Honor by a congressman fromMichigan and a senator fromNew York, and the black press enthusiastically campaigned for Miller to receive this decoration. Secretary of the NavyFrank Knox, who opposed black sailors serving the United States in any combat role, recommended against Miller receiving the Medal of Honor.[6] No black sailor, soldier, or Marine was awarded the Medal of Honor between 1941 and 1945, and in 1996Vernon J. Baker was the only black veteran of World War II to beawarded the decoration while still alive.[7]
In June 1943, Miller was promoted to Cook Petty Officer, Third Class.[5] In November 1943, Miller was killed in action when his ship, theescort carrierLiscome Bay, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during theBattle of Makin in theGilbert Islands, with the loss of 702 officers and sailors – the deadliest sinking of a carrier in the history of the United States Navy.
Miller was born inWaco, 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.[8] 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 afullback on the football team at Waco'sAlexander James Moore High School.[9] 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.[10] He filled his time squirrel hunting with a .22 rifle and completed a correspondence course in taxidermy. He applied to join theCivilian Conservation Corps but was not accepted. At that time, he was 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed more than 200 pounds (91 kg).[10] Miller worked on his father's farm until shortly before his 20th birthday.
Miller's nickname "Dorie" may have originated from a typographical error. He was nominated for recognition for his actions on December 7, 1941, and thePittsburgh Courier released a story on March 14, 1942, which gave his name as "Dorie Miller".[11] Since then, some writers have suggested that it was a "nickname to shipmates and friends".[10]
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.[2] Mess attendant was one of the few ratings open at the time to black sailors.[12] He was transferred to theNaval Training Center, Naval Operating Base, Norfolk, Virginia, arriving on September 19.[2] After training school, he was assigned to the ammunition shipPyro (AE-1) and then transferred on January 2, 1940, to theColorado-class battleshipWest Virginia (BB-48). It was onWest Virginia where he started competition boxing, becoming the ship's heavyweight champion. In July, he was on temporary duty aboardNevada (BB-36) at Secondary Battery Gunnery School. He returned toWest Virginia on August 3. He advanced in rating to mess attendant second class on February 16, 1941.[3][12]
Miller woke up at 6 a.m. on December 7, 1941, aboardWest Virginia. He served breakfast mess and was collecting laundry at 7:57 a.m. when planes from theJapanese aircraft carrier Akagi fired the first of seven torpedoes that hitWest Virginia.[10] The "battle stations" alarm went off; Miller headed for his battle station, ananti-aircraft batterymagazine 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.[10] 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 theconning tower on the flag bridge to assist in moving the ship'scaptain,Mervyn Bennion, who had a gaping wound in his abdomen where he had apparently been hit by shrapnel after the first Japanese attack.[13] 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.[13][14] 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.[13] Unable to go to the deck below because of smoke and flames, he was carried up a ladder to thenavigation bridge, where he died from blood loss despite the aid from apharmacist mate.[13] He was posthumously awarded theMedal of Honor.[15]
Lieutenant Frederic H. White had ordered Miller to help him and Ensign Victor Delano load the unmanned number 1 and number 2Browning .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns aft of the conning tower.[16] Miller was not familiar with the weapon, but White and Delano instructed him on how to operate it. 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 then loaded ammunition into both guns and assigned Miller the starboard gun.[10]
Miller fired the gun until he ran out of ammunition, whereupon he was ordered by LieutenantClaude V. Ricketts 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; Miller was officially credited with downing at least two hostile planes.[14] "I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us," he said later.[3] Japanese aircraft eventually dropped two armor-piercing bombs through the deck of the battleship and launched five 18-inch (460 mm) torpedoes into her port side. When the attack finally lessened, Miller helped 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".[17]
The ship was heavily damaged by bombs, torpedoes, and resulting explosions and fires, but the crew prevented her from capsizing by counter-flooding compartments. Instead,West Virginia sank to the harbor bottom in shallow water as her surviving crew abandoned ship, including Miller;[3] the ship was later raised and restored for continued service in the war. OnWest Virginia, 132 men were killed and 52 were wounded from the Japanese attack. On December 13, Miller reported to theheavy cruiserIndianapolis (CA-35).
AdmiralChester W. Nimitz pins a Navy Cross on Mess Attendant Second Class Miller during a ceremony aboard the USSEnterprise (CV-6) at Pearl Harbor, on May 27, 1942.
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 black man. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had asked PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt to award theDistinguished Service Cross to the unknown black sailor. The Navy Board of Awards received a recommendation that the sailor be considered for recognition. On March 12, anAssociated Press story named Miller as the sailor, citing the African-American newspaperPittsburgh Courier;[18] additional news reports creditedLawrence D. Reddick with learning the name through correspondence with the Navy Department, with these news reports becoming influential aspects in giving theDouble V campaign greater legitimacy[19] In the following days, SenatorJames M. Mead introduced a Senatebill [S.Res. 2392] to award Miller the Medal of Honor,[20] and RepresentativeJohn Dingell Sr. introduced a matching House bill [H.R. 6800].[21]
Miller was recognized as one of the "first U.S. heroes of World War II". He was commended in a letter signed bySecretary of the NavyFrank Knox on April 1, and the next dayCBS Radio broadcast an episode of the seriesThey Live Forever, which dramatized Miller's actions.[10] Black organizations began a campaign to honor Miller with additional recognition. On April 4, thePittsburgh Courier urged readers to write to members of the congressional Naval Affairs Committee in support of awarding the Medal of Honor to Miller.[22] TheAll-Southern Negro Youth Conference launched a signature campaign on April 17–19. On May 10, theNational Negro Congress denounced Knox's recommendation against awarding Miller the Medal of Honor. On May 11 President Roosevelt approved theNavy Cross for Miller.[23]
On May 27 Miller was personally recognized byAdmiralChester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief,Pacific Fleet, aboard theaircraft carrierEnterprise (CV-6) at anchor in Pearl Harbor.[3][24] Nimitz presented Miller with the Navy Cross, at the time the third-highest Navy award for gallantry during combat, after the Medal of Honor and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal; on August 7, 1942, Congress revised the order of precedence, placing the Navy Cross above the Distinguished Service Medal in precedence. Nimitz said of Miller's commendation, "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."[3][24]
Miller advanced in rating to mess attendant first class on June 1, 1942.[2][16] On June 27 thePittsburgh Courier called for him to be allowed to return home for awar bond tour along with white war heroes.[25] On July 25 thePittsburgh Courier ran a photo of Miller with the caption "He Fought... Keeps Mop" next to a photo of a white survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack receiving an officer's commission.[26] The photo caption stated that the Navy felt that Miller was "too important waiting tables in the Pacific" for him to return to the United States.
1943 U.S. Navy recruiting poster featuring Miller and his Navy Cross
On November 23 Miller returned to Pearl Harbor and was ordered on a war bond tour while still attached toIndianapolis.[10] In December, and January 1943, he gave presentations inOakland, California, in his hometown of Waco, in Dallas, and to the first graduating class of black sailors fromGreat Lakes Naval Training Station.[16] He was featured on the 1943 Navy recruiting poster "above and beyond the call of duty", designed byDavid Stone Martin.[27]
In February 1943 "mess attendant" was changed to the "steward's mate" rate title by the Navy.[28] On May 15 Miller reported toPuget Sound Navy Yard atBremerton, Washington, assigned to the newly constructed escort carrierLiscome Bay (CVE-56).[2][3] He was advanced in rating to cook third class on June 1.[2] The ship had a crew of 960 men, and its primary functions were to serve as aconvoy escort, to provide aircraft forclose air support duringamphibious landing operations, and to ferry aircraft to naval bases and fleet carriers at sea.[29] TheLiscome Bay was theflagship for Carrier Division 24 which was under the command of Rear AdmiralHenry M. Mullinnix. On October 22,Liscome Bay set sail for Pearl Harbor.[29]
After training in Hawaiian waters,Liscome Bay left Pearl Harbor on November 10, 1943, to join the Northern Task Force,Task Group 52.[29] Miller's carrier took part in theBattle of Makin (invasion of Makin by units of the Army's 165th Regimental Combat Team,27th Infantry Division) which had begun on November 20.[30] On November 24, the day after Makin was captured by American soldiers and the eve ofThanksgiving (the cooks had broken out the frozen turkeys from Pearl Harbor),[29]Liscome Bay was cruising nearButaritari (Makin Atoll's main island) when it was struck just before dawn in the stern by a torpedo from theJapanese submarine I-175 (which fired four torpedoes at Task Group 5312).[29][31] The carrier's own torpedoes and aircraft bombs exploded, causing the ship to sink in 23 minutes.[29] There were 272 survivors from the crew of over 900,[32] but Miller was among the two-thirds of the crew listed as "presumed dead".[33] His parents were informed that he wasmissing in action on December 7, 1943.[10]Liscome Bay was the only ship lost in theGilbert Islands operation.[29]
A memorial service was held for Miller on April 30, 1944, at the Second Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, sponsored by the Victory Club.[10] On May 28, a granite marker was dedicated at Moore High School in Waco to honor him.[10] Miller was officially declared dead by the Navy on November 25, 1944, a year and a day after the loss ofLiscome Bay.[3] One of his brothers also served during World War II.
For distinguished devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and disregard for his own personal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. While at the side of his Captain on the bridge, Miller, despite enemy strafing and bombing and in the face of a 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 directed at enemy Japanese attacking aircraft until ordered to leave the bridge.[34]
Commemorative plaque for Dorie Miller at the National Museum of the Pacific WarDorie Miller memorial at the housing cooperative named for him in Corona, QueensDoris Miller Auditorium in Austin, TexasUSS Miller (FF-1091), aKnox-classfrigate commissioned in 1973, in honor of Miller
Memorials
Doris Miller Memorial, a public art installation on the banks of theBrazos River in Waco.[35] A nine-foot bronze statue was unveiled on December 7, 2017.[36]
A bronze commemorative plaque at the Doris Miller Park housing community located nearNaval Station Pearl Harbor; organized by theAlpha Kappa Alpha sorority and dedicated on October 12, 1991, which would have been Miller's 72nd birthday.[37][38]
In 1942, Miller's actions were dramatized on the CBS Radio seriesThey Live Forever.[74]
The April 25, 1944, episode of the CBS Radio seriesColumbia Presents Corwin, titled "Dorie Got a Medal", starredCanada Lee andJosh White inNorman Corwin's "jazz-and-jive opera" about Miller.[75][76]
Miller being awarded the Navy Cross was depicted in the 2019 filmMidway.
Miller is played by Abdul Sulaiman in National Geographic's "Erased: WWII Heroes of Colour" which focuses on him and fellow African American mess mates George Bland and Clark Simmons.[83]
Other
Unveiling the Distinguished Sailors commemorative stamp series during a ceremony at the U.S. Navy Memorial
Founded in 1943, the Dorie Miller Foundation began giving an annual award in 1947 to an individual or group considered outstanding in the field of race relations.[59][84] Recipients includedJackie Robinson,Jesse Owens, andEleanor Roosevelt.[85] The award later became the American Heritage & Freedom Award.[86]
TheGwendolyn Brooks poemNegro Hero (1945) is narrated from Miller's point of view.[87]
^Cutrer, Thomas W.; Parrish, T. Michael (2017).Doris Miller, Pearl Harbor, and the Birth of the Civil Rights Movement. Texas A&M University Press.ISBN978-1623496029.
Cutrer, Thomas W.; Parrish, T. Michael (2017).Doris Miller, Pearl Harbor, and the Birth of the Civil Rights Movement. Texas A&M University Press.ISBN978-1623496029.
Miller, Richard E. (2004).The Messman Chronicles: African Americans in the U.S. Navy, 1932–1943. Naval Institute Press.ISBN155750539X.
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