Doris Miller

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 tall and weighed more than . Since then, some writers have suggested that it was a "nickname to shipmates and friends". == Naval career ==

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. 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. Lieutenant Frederic H. White had ordered Miller to help him and Ensign Victor Delano load the unmanned number 1 and number 2 Browning .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns aft of the conning tower. 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; additional news reports credited Lawrence D. Reddick with learning the name through correspondence with the Navy Department, with these news reports becoming influential aspects in giving the Double V campaign greater legitimacy In the following days, Senator James M. Mead introduced a Senate bill [] to award Miller the Medal of Honor, and Representative John Dingell Sr. introduced a matching House bill []. Miller was recognized as one of the "first U.S. heroes of World War II". He was commended in a letter signed by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox on April 1, and the next day CBS Radio broadcast an episode of the series They Live Forever, which dramatized Miller's actions. The All-Southern Negro Youth Conference launched a signature campaign on April 17–19. On May 10, the National Negro Congress denounced Knox's recommendation against awarding Miller the Medal of Honor. On May 11 President Roosevelt approved the Navy Cross for Miller. On May 27 Miller was personally recognized by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, aboard the aircraft carrier (CV-6) at anchor in Pearl Harbor. 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." On June 27 the Pittsburgh Courier called for him to be allowed to return home for a war bond tour along with white war heroes. On July 25 the Pittsburgh 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. 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. On November 23 Miller returned to Pearl Harbor and was ordered on a war bond tour while still attached to Indianapolis. In February 1943 "mess attendant" was changed to the "steward's mate" rate title by the Navy. On May 15 Miller reported to Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington, assigned to the newly constructed escort carrier (CVE-56). The Liscome Bay was the flagship for Carrier Division 24 which was under the command of Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix. On October 22, Liscome Bay set sail for Pearl Harbor. == Death ==

After training in Hawaiian waters, Liscome Bay left Pearl Harbor on November 10, 1943, to join the Northern Task Force, Task Group 52. On November 24, the day after Makin was captured by American soldiers and the eve of Thanksgiving (the cooks had broken out the frozen turkeys from Pearl Harbor), The carrier's own torpedoes and aircraft bombs exploded, causing the ship to sink in 23 minutes. but Miller was among the two-thirds of the crew listed as "presumed dead". His parents were informed that he was missing in action on December 7, 1943. == Military awards ==

Miller's decorations and awards: Navy Cross citation 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. ==Legacy==

; Memorials • Doris Miller Memorial, a public art installation on the banks of the Brazos River in Waco. A nine-foot bronze statue was unveiled on December 7, 2017. • A bronze commemorative plaque at the Doris Miller Park housing community located near Naval Station Pearl Harbor; organized by the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and dedicated on October 12, 1991, which would have been Miller's 72nd birthday. • Plaque in the Memorial Courtyard at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. ; Schools • Dorie Miller Intermediate School, Ennis, Texas • Doris Miller Elementary School, San Antonio, Texas (opened 1947) • Doris Miller Elementary School, San Diego, California (dedicated April 28, 1976) • Dorie Miller Elementary School, Waco, Texas (closed 2012) • Doris Miller Middle School, San Marcos, Texas ; Community-related • Bledsoe–Miller Community Center, recreation facility in Waco, Texas, jointly named for Jules Bledsoe • Dorie Miller Community Center, recreation facility in San Antonio, Texas • Dorie Miller Drive, Champaign, Illinois • Dorie Miller Homes, a housing community in Gary, Indiana • Dorie Miller Houses, a housing cooperative complex built in 1953 in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York • Dorie Miller Park, Lewisburg, West Virginia • Doris Miller Auditorium, Rosewood Park, Austin, Texas • Doris Miller Community Center, Newport News, Virginia • Doris Miller Family YMCA, Waco, Texas • Doris Miller Loop, Honolulu, Hawaii, with a monument located at north end of street • Doris Miller Memorial Park, a cemetery on the border of Waco and Bellmead, Texas • Dorie Miller Recreation Center, San Antonio, Texas ; Military-related • , a destroyer escort (reclassified as a on June 30, 1975) commissioned on June 30, 1973; decommissioned on October 15, 1991, was named after him. • The Bachelor Enlisted Quarters at Naval Station Great Lakes was dedicated to Miller on December 7, 1971. • Dorie Miller Galley, the main galley for Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti • Doris Miller Dining Hall, Naval Air Station Chase Field, Beeville, Texas • Doris Miller Park, a housing community for military personnel in Honolulu • , a future , announced on January 19, 2020. The ship is scheduled to be laid down in 2026 and launched in 2029. ; Veteran-related • Dorie Miller Chapter 14 – Disabled American Veterans chapter in Washington, D.C. • Dorie Miller Post 546 – American Legion post in Racine, Wisconsin • Dorie Miller Post 915 – American Legion post in Chicago • Dorie E. Miller Post 817 – American Legion post in Beaumont, Texas • Doris Miller Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Waco, Texas; includes monument and a road named Doris Miller Circle. ; Radio • In 1942, Miller's actions were dramatized on the CBS Radio series They Live Forever. • The April 25, 1944, episode of the CBS Radio series Columbia Presents Corwin, titled "Dorie Got a Medal", starred Canada Lee and Josh White in Norman Corwin's "jazz-and-jive opera" about Miller. • On the December 9, 1945, broadcast of his ABC radio series Orson Welles Commentaries, Orson Welles presented a tribute to Doris Miller and spoke to his father, Connery Miller. Broadcast from the U. S. Naval Training and Distribution Center on Treasure Island, San Francisco, the program announced the naming of three theater complexes to honor three World War II heroes killed in action. Theater One was named for Doris Miller; the other two theaters were named for Medal of Honor recipients John Basilone and Edward O'Hare. ; Film & television • Miller is portrayed by actor Elven Havard in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!. • Miller is portrayed by actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor. • Miller being awarded the Navy Cross was depicted in the 2019 film Midway. • 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. ; Other • 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. Recipients included Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The award later became the American Heritage & Freedom Award. • The Gwendolyn Brooks poem Negro Hero (1945) is narrated from Miller's point of view. • In 2002, Molefi Kete Asante included Miller on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans. • Miller was honored by the United States Postal Service as one of four Distinguished Sailors, with a 44-cent commemorative stamp issued on February 4, 2010. Also honored were William Sims, Arleigh Burke, and John McCloy. == See also ==