Each December 7 on National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, Americans look back in honor of those who lost their lives in the attacks at Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Our country lost 2,403 lives that day, and more than 1,100 others were injured. It was an act that created a deep wound in America, an event President Franklin D. Roosevelt called “a date which will live in infamy.”
But if there’s a bright side—if such infamy is good for anything—it’s in the way such events highlight the actions of the heroic. This week, in honor of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we look at one such hero born and bred in the Lone Star State.
Doris “Dorie” Miller was born in Waco in 1919 as the son of poor black farmers. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy shortly after high school as a way to see the world and send money home to his family.
He was just 19 when he enlisted, consigned to a job as a kitchen worker. It was the only option for a black man in a segregated Navy in the late 1930s.
By 1940, Miller had been assigned to the battleship USS West Virginia, which, on the morning of December 7, 1941, happened to be in port at Pearl Harbor. Still relegated to a non-combative role, Miller was doing laundry rounds when the Japanese began their attack, launching the first of several torpedos that would hit the ship. Miller immediately sprang into action.
The young sailor saved several lives by carrying his wounded comrades to the first aid station. And with no training, he took up a position on one of the ship’s anti-aircraft guns, firing until he was out of ammunition. “It wasn’t hard,” he’s quoted as saying. “I just pulled the trigger, and she worked fine.”
Accounts vary, but Miller is credited with shooting down at least three Japanese planes before being ordered to abandon the sinking ship.
Miller was lauded in the press for his heroism. A few months after the attack, he became the first African American to receive the Navy Cross. He was even featured on a U.S. Navy recruiting poster and sent on a U.S. tour to raise money for war bonds.
By 1943, Miller was back at sea, assigned to the USS Liscome Bay. A few days after taking part in the Battle of Makin Island, the U.S. war ship was hit by a Japanese torpedo that caused an explosion. The ship sank in 23 minutes. Miller was one of the many hundreds of sailors presumed killed in the attack.
In addition to his Navy Cross, Miller was also awarded the Purple Heart and several other ribbons and medals for his courage and service. In 1973, the Navy commissioned a ship in his honor, the USS Miller. And he was portrayed by actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2001 drama “Pearl Harbor.”
Veteran Energy is proud to honor the memory of Doris Miller. We’re thankful to heroes like him who lift us up when we’re in danger or in need of inspiration.
