Biography dorie miller

Keeps Mop" next to a photo of a white survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack receiving an officer's commission. On November 23 Miller returned to Pearl Harbor and was ordered on a war bond tour while still attached to Indianapolis. In February "mess attendant" was changed to the "steward's mate" rate title by the Navy. 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, 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.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. First African American to be awarded the Navy Cross — For other uses, see Doris Miller disambiguation. Early life and education [ edit ]. Naval career [ edit ]. Attack on Pearl Harbor [ edit ].

Main article: Attack on Pearl Harbor. Commendation [ edit ]. Return to United States and the war [ edit ]. Death [ edit ]. Military awards [ edit ]. Navy Cross citation [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Retrieved September 25, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved January 15, June 6, Retrieved February 8, East Texas Historical Journal.

Retrieved January 4, Retrieved September 24, Baker - Military Leader - Biography". March 30, Archived from the original on March 30, April 11, Retrieved February 7, Pearl Harbor Message Board. Archived from the original on December 9, Retrieved June 20, Pittsburgh Courier. March 14, Retrieved February 7, — via newspapers. National Geographic.

He became a Mess Attendant, Third Class, meaning essentially that he waited on tables. This was the only military job classification officially open to African Americans at the time. In November of , he was transferred to his first duty station, as a mess attendant aboard the USS Pyro, an ammunition ship. The ship was anchored at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii, on December 7, Miller was on deck collecting laundry at a.

On this quiet Sunday morning no one expected the first-wave attack force of some Japanese bombers,. Born Doris Miller on October 12, , near Waco, Texas son of Connery and Henrietta Miller; presumed missing in submarine attack, November 24, ; officially presumed dead, November 25, When the alarm for general quarters sounded, Miller ran amidship to his battle station, an anti-aircraft battery.

But torpedo damage had already put the battery out of commission. Miller was knocked down by the explosions but scrambled to his feet and ran on deck. In the smoke, flames, and chaos that engulfed the harbor as the enemy planes continued their relentless and deadly assault, Miller worked to carry wounded sailors to safer sections of the ship.

The officer then spotted two unmanned, caliber anti-aircraft machine guns on deck and shouted for two trained seaman to fire them. Miller was to supply the ammunition, but when the officer was needed elsewhere, Miller quickly stepped up to man the gun. Although he had not been trained to fire it, he reasoned it could not be much harder than the squirrel gun he used back home in Texas.

I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. Some witnesses, however, claimed his marksmanship was astonishing and that he had shot down as many as six planes.

Biography dorie miller

Perhaps he would have shot down more enemy planes, but Miller was ordered to abandon ship. With severe flooding below decks, the battleship slowly sank in shallow water. Of the 1, men on board, died that day and 52 were wounded. In total, five battleships went down at Pearl Harbor, most within 30 minutes of the start of battle. Three others were damaged, as well as three cruisers, three destroyers, and other vessels; U.

More than 2, people died in the surprise attack, and more than 3, were wounded. As for the West Virginia, it lived to fight another day. It was refloated and repaired and operated in the Pacific until the end of the war in August of He also spoke to a graduating class of noncommissioned officers at the Great Lakes Training School in Illinois.

Ironically, at the time, he was not eligible for such training. I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. After defending against japanese bombers under heavy fire, Miller made a sprint to carry Captain Bennion through thick smoke to the navigation bridge. The captain, already barely clutching onto his last moments, died shortly after. With no time to lose, Miller accompanied his fellow sailors to the lower levels of the ship, wading through hundreds of feet of oil and water to save his crewmates.

Without the courageous actions of Miller, a number of lives would have been lost to the depths of the bay. After attempting to prevent the ship from capsizing by counter-flooding various compartments of the ship, the West Virginia was unable to be saved and sank to the bottom of the harbor. Miller and his crewmates, saving as many as they could on the way out, finally had no choice but to abandon ship.

Miller's actions earned him the Navy Cross, becoming the first African American to receive the prestigious honor. In , he was recognized among the " Outstanding African Americans. By , Miller had advanced through the ranks, promising a bright future in the Navy. However, tragedy struck when his ship was torpedoed and sunk during an enemy attack.

Many crew members perished, including Miller, who was reported missing in action on December 7,