War Stories with Preston and Sayre6 Sep 2020

Matt1c Doris Miller (USS West Virginia) Pearl Harbor, HI 07DEC1941

07DEC1941: Mess Attendant 1st Class Doris Miller was below deck working when he heard alarms sound. Rushing to his battle station, he found his designated anti-aircraft battery had been destroyed in the initial Japanese attack that morning on Pearl Harbor. Without hesitation, he rushed forward and offered to help in any way he could.

With the commanding officer mortally wounded, Miller was tasked with pulling him from the bridge to a more secure location. Despite the challenges of moving the seriously wounded man, Miller completed this and was then sent to assist two officers in getting machine guns up and firing back into the attacking Japanese planes.

The two officers expected Miller to help load ammunition since he had never been trained on the .50 caliber weapon system (or any weapon for that matter, black Sailors were considered support rather than combat troops and didn't go through the same training). Instead, as one officer turned around briefly, Miller jumped on the machine gun and started laying down fire into the attacking Japanese. In the non-stop action of the next fifteen minutes, Miller is estimated to have shot down between 2-5 Japanese aircraft.

As he expended the last of his ammunition, Miller began to evacuate wounded Americans from the craft. Regularly moving through waist deep water and oil, Miller saved countless lives before he himself was ordered to evacuate as well.

For his actions that day, Doris Miller would be awarded the Navy Cross, the first black Sailor to receive the award. Continuing service through the war, Miller would unfortunately be killed two years later when his ship, the USS Liscome Bay was sunk during the Battle of Makin.

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