Doris Miller showed his true worth and value above the USS West Virginia in the famed Pearl Harbor attack. WACO- This month in Black History, brings remembrance of a day in America’s history, Pearl Harbor, which connects to the great historical story of the Black Pearl Harbor hero, Doris Miller. The attack upon Pearl Harbor, by Japanese Raider planes, on December 7, 1941, was one of the worse days in America’s history; whereas Japan stood victorious in their air raid that lasted for a nearly an hour. Yet, it was a date that a young sailor rose above his shadowed image in being only a mess man, and acted heroically aboard the USS West Virginia as it was being bombed and torpedoed by Japanese bomber planes on that dreary day of death and destruction.
Miller (also called Dorie Miller) was the name of the sailor, who showed his true worth and value aboard the West Virginia; with the title “War Fighter,” becoming duly attached to his identity. Running was the furthest thing from Miller’s mind, and as Japanese planes zoomed in—bombing and firing away at the USS West Virginia, he put forth heroism in rescuing many of his fallen comrades and as well as his captain.

With the inspired drive in having been a fighter all his life, in boxing and wrestling with his brothers and neighboring boys, and after his enlistment, later becoming the heavy weight boxing champ aboard the West Virginia, acted to defend America by manning a machine gun, where other comrades had already been gunned down, and lay dead, nearby. After moving the fallen sailors aside, Miller manned the gun, and with aim, perfection, and fueled anger, he fired at the soaring planes, targeting them as he had squirrels and other critters and varmints in the wild, and in areas surrounding his family’s farm, which was located in the rural distance of a mile from Speegleville, a mile from Lake Waco.

He struck the planes with gunfire, until the order to abandon ship entered more strongly into his ears, withdrawing him from the raging fury, and overpowering his anxiousness to down more than the five Japanese planes that he had already saw fall before his eyes. It was that fury that empowered Miller’s actions up to that moment of the loud intercom call, “Abandon ship! Abandon ship!”

And when he released his hold on the machine gun, and dove overboard into the ocean’s cold waters, he felt rewarded that he had fought back, although he was somewhat disappointed that he hadn’t been allowed to fight back longer. Yet, he had no idea that his heroic actions aboard the West Virginia on that day at Pearl Harbor, would bring major changes to the United States Navy; changes that opened doors for advancement and higher opportunities for Blacks.
Miller served aboard USS Indianapolis from December 1941 to May 1943. He was then assigned to the escort carrier Liscome Bay and was lost with that ship when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on November 24, 1943.

Miller’s name and heroic actions were implanted prodigies in America’s history, and in the United States Navy beyond conflicts of attempted silence that followed his name and heroic actions; and duly, both he  and his heroic actions were recognized, whereas he was later awarded the Navy Cross, the Purple Heart, a Good Conduct Medal, an American Defense Medal with Fleet Clasp, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Service Medal, and World War II Victory Medal. Yet, one award remains long overdue from its call for upmost justice, as was loudly voiced in the introduction of the “Mead-Dingell Bill” in 1942.

The “Congressional Medal of Honor,” the one due honor and concern that has traveled the passage of the war hero’s life story beyond that rise and stand that Doris Miller took in 1942,  is still a remaining  reminder to our leaders, politicians, concerned citizens, relatives, historians and others, the world that, it is yet to be awarded to the famed World War II hero. It is a reminder, held in remembrance, right up to this month in Black History, in the year of America’s greatest change in 2009, with it’s newly elected first Black president; a day that was thought to never come to past.

Lest we forget, when Doris Miller gave of himself to protect and defend America in the United States Navy, his efforts were so all Americans might live. For more information on Doris Miller, visit: Tiptopwebsite.com/Southey.