Just after being presented with Navy Cross by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, on board USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Pearl Harbor, May 27, 1942 (courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command)

Doris Miller (October 12, 1919 – November 24, 1943) was an American Naval cook who was the first Black recipient of the Navy Cross and a nominee for the Medal of Honor. As a mess attendant second class in the United States Navy, Miller helped carry wounded sailors to safety during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He then manned an anti-aircraft gun and, despite no prior training in gunnery, shot down between four and six enemy planes. Miller received the Navy Cross from Admiral Chester Nimitz on May 27, 1942, but many sailors and naval officers believed that Miller's heroism deserved a Medal of Honor. In June 1943, Miller was promoted to Cook Petty Officer, Third Class (wrong Wikipedia, he was promoted to Cook, Third Class, according to Naval History and Heritage Command). In November 1943, Miller was killed in action when his ship, the escort carrier Liscome Bay, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during the Battle of Makin in the Gilbert Islands.

Information above provided by Wikipedia.

In September 1940, when the Selective Training and Service Act became the nation’s first peacetime draft law, civil rights leaders pressured President Franklin D. Roosevelt to allow black American men the opportunity to register and serve in integrated regiments. African Americans had participated in every conflict since the American Revolutionary War but had done so segregated and President Roosevelt's Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, was not interested in changing the status quo any time soon. As World War II intensified in Europe, and with the U.S. Armed Forces in need of more men, President Roosevelt decided that black American men could register for the draft, but they would remain segregated and the military would decide the number of Blacks inducted into the Armed Forces. This compromise represented the conflicting experience that fell upon the 1.2 million African American men who served during World War II: They fought for democracy overseas while being treated like second-class citizens by their own country.

In January 1942, the Pittsburgh Courier, once the country's most widely circulated African-American newspaper, published a letter by 26-year-old James G. Thompson, a black American serving in the military: "Should I sacrifice my life to live half American? Will things be better for the next generation in the peace to follow? Would it be demanding too much to demand full citizenship rights in exchange for the sacrificing of my life? Is the kind of America I know worth defending? ....These and other questions need answering; I want to know, and I believe every colored American, who is thinking, wants to know..."

One young man who probably asked himself all of these questions and more but still decided to enlist in the U.S. Navy was a nineteen year old black American named Doris Miller. With the promise of travel opportunities and money, which his family needed badly, Miller became a naval cook and was present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the naval base there. That day, Miller became an American hero and yet his story has been all but forgotten, buried in the sands of time...until now.

Doris Miller's story, hidden history that has remained long forgotten, is the story of an unsung American hero devoted to serving his country and a nation that still viewed certain citizens as “separate but equal”.

For the rest of Miller's story, please check out the audio link provided for EPISODE TWENTY-SEVEN of our podcast, Hidden History: An Odyssey Through Time

LISTEN NOW: Remembering a Distinguished Sailor: The Chronicle of Pearl Harbor Hero Doris Miller

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Images and Documents

The Miller family in the 1920 U.S. Census (courtesy of familysearch.org).

The Miller family in the 1930 U.S. Census (courtesy of familysearch.org).

Consent form for Doris Miller to enlist in the U.S. Navy, May 1939 (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

4 pages from Doris Miller's U.S. Navy enlistment, September 16, 1939 (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

Photograph taken from a Japanese plane during the torpedo attack on ships moored on both sides of Ford Island shortly after the beginning of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. The view looks about east, with the supply depot, submarine base and fuel tank farm in the distance, right center. A torpedo has just hit the USS West Virginia, the ship Doris Miller was onboard, on the far side of Ford Island, center. Other battleships are moored nearby (courtesy of U.S. Department of Defense).

USS West Virginia, the ship Doris Miller was serving on, engulfed in flames, December 7, 1941 (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

1943 U.S. Navy recruiting poster featuring Doris Miller and his Navy Cross (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz & Mess Attendant, Second Class, Doris Miller during ceremony aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Pearl Harbor, May 27, 1942 (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz pins Navy Cross on Mess Attendant, Second Class, Doris Miller during ceremony aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Pearl Harbor, May 27, 1942 (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

The Navy Cross is the U.S. Naval Service's second-highest military decoration awarded for Sailors & Marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force.

Artwork on Doris Miller & Elvin Bell for their heroism, 1941-1942. Artwork by Charles H. Alston. Miller received the Navy Cross for his actions at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese Attack on December 7, 1941 (courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command).

Conery and Henrietta Miller photographed on the farm in 1942, shortly after their son, Doris, was recognized as a hero of Pearl Harbor (Thomas E. Turner Papers, Texas Collection).

A newspaper article about Doris Miller, March 12, 1942 (courtesy of the Oakland Tribune).

A newspaper article about Doris Miller in the Pittsburgh Courier, an influential African-American newspaper, March 14, 1942 (courtesy of Newspapers.com by Ancestry).

A newspaper article about Doris Miller, March 14, 1942. The Navy took their sweet time identifying Doris Miller as the heroic young man who manned a machine gun during the attack on Pearl Harbor (courtesy of The New York Age).

A newspaper article about Doris Miller in the Chicago Tribune, May 28, 1942 (courtesy of Newspapers.com by Ancestry).

After his heroic actions at Pearl Harbor, the Pittsburgh Courier, an influential African-American newspaper, called for Doris Miller to be returned to the United States for a war bond tour, June 27, 1942 (courtesy of Newspapers.com by Ancestry).

Coupons from black newspapers to President Roosevelt, urging him to bring Doris Miller back to the States (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

Doris Miller, Mess Attendant, First Class, USN, during a visit to the Naval Training Station in Illinois, January 7, 1943. He is holding his Navy Cross medal, awarded for heroism during the Pearl Harbor attack (courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command).

Mess Attendant First Class Doris Miller speaking during visit to the Naval Training Station in Illinois, January 7, 1943. He is wearing Navy Cross medal, awarded for heroism during the Pearl Harbor attack (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

Doris Miller speaking with sailors and a civilian at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, January 7, 1943 (courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command).

Illustration of Doris Miller defending the fleet at Pearl Harbor, 1943 (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

Image of Doris Miller in newspaper. The nickname Dorie may have been a typo but it stuck with him.

USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56) moored at Naval Station Astoria, Oregon, September 1943. This is the last ship Doris Miller served on & two months later this ship would be sunk by a Japanese torpedo (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

Two unidentified enlisted men of USS Liscome Bay are buried at sea after succumbing to wounds sustained from enemy torpedo explosion, c. November 1943 (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

December 6, 1943 telegram informing Doris Miller's parents that he was missing (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

Survivors of the USS Liscome Bay in San Francisco, California, December 13, 1943 (courtesy of The Evening Star).

On November 25, 1944, a year and one day after the sinking of the USS Liscome Bay on November 24, 1943, Doris Miller was presumed dead by the Secretary of the Navy. His body was never recovered (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

On November 25, 1944, a year and one day after the sinking of the USS Liscome Bay on November 24, 1943, Doris Miller was presumed dead by the Secretary of the Navy. His body was never recovered. This letter was sent to Doris Miller's parents, dated December 2, 1944, informing them that Doris has been presumed dead (courtesy of U.S. National Archives).

The grave of Doris Miller's father, Conery Miller, in Doris Miller Memorial Park, Waco, Texas.

Mr. Arthur Miller, younger brother of Doris Miller, holds a painting presented to Mrs. Henrietta Miller, (left), sponsor for escort ship USS Miller (FF-1091), originally (DE-1091), commissioned during a ceremony underway at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia. The painting of World War II naval hero Doris Miller was presented to Mrs. Miller, his mother, by crew of the vessel, June 30, 1973 (courtesy of National Museum of the U.S. Navy).

The grave of Doris Miller's mother, Henrietta Miller, in Doris Miller Memorial Park, Waco, Texas.

Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. portrayed Doris Miller in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor.

On February 4, 2010, Doris Miller was honored by the United States Postal Service as one of four Distinguished Sailors, with a 44-cent commemorative stamp issued.

On 25 August 2021, with six members of Doris Miller's family in attendance, the Navy conducted the First Cut of Steel ceremony at Newport News Shipbuilding, signaling the formal start of construction for the fourth Ford-class aircraft carrier. The USS Doris Miller (CVN-81) is scheduled to be laid down January 2026, launched October 2029 and commissioned in 2032 (courtesy of navalnews.com).

Commemorative plaque for Doris "Dorie" Miller at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Texas. The nickname "Dorie" first appeared in a newspaper article and may have been a typo but it sort of stuck as a nickname for Doris Miller.

Reading Material

More than one million African American men and women served in every branch of the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II. In addition to battling the forces of Fascism abroad, these Americans also battled racism in the United States and in the U.S. military. 

Learn more below:

On December 7, 1941, Japan staged a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, decimating the U.S. Pacific Fleet. When Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war.

Learn more below:

Resources

• https://dorismillermemorial.org/
• Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum.
• https://www.history.com/
• https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/diversity/african-americans/miller/transcript-of-service.html
• https://www.history.navy.mil/
• https://news.va.gov/64767/doris-dorie-miller-hero-pearl-harbor/
• https://wacohistory.org/