Who Was Doris Miller & Why Did He Have An Aircraft Carrier Named After Him?
Story by Ron King • 11h
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Doris Miller was doing laundry below decks of the USS
West Virginia, a 32,600-ton Colorado-class battleship. During the battle, the USS West Virginia was one of four battleships lost at Pearl Harbor, suffering damage from at least seven torpedoes and two bombs, and sinking to the bottom of the harbor.
Doris "Dorie" Miller, born October 12, 1919, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1939, starting his Navy career as a ship's mess attendant, rising to the rank of ship's cook, third class prior to his death on November 24, 1943. Miller, along with 643 others, died aboard the Liscome Bay, an escort carrier, when it suffered torpedo damage. It sank 20 miles southwest of Butaritari Island, an atoll nearly 2,400 miles northeast of Australia in the Pacific Ocean.
Miller's heroic actions aboard the USS West Virginia during the attack on Pearl Harbor earned him the Navy Cross, the first ever awarded to an African American. Those heroics included carrying wounded sailors to safety and manning gun stations, including a 0.50-caliber antiaircraft gun, which he fired until running out of ammunition, with no previous training on the weapon. After receiving the order to abandon ship, Miller continued to assist in the evacuation of sailors. The Navy Cross was presented to Miller by Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, on May 27, 1942, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
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