DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Doris Miller — and friend, this is one you need to hear. He started right here. McLennan County, Texas.
A farm. A boy who attended A.J. Moore High School over in Waco.
Nobody writing that chapter of the story could have known what the next chapter held. Doris Miller — Dorie, to those who knew him — enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the battleship USS West Virginia in 1940.
December 7, 1941, the West Virginia was docked in Pearl Harbor when a Japanese torpedo struck her. And the violence did not stop there. Moments after that hit, an explosion on a nearby ship showered the West Virginia's deck with burning debris and flaming oil.
Now here is where you slow down and pay attention. Miller helped move his wounded captain to safety. Then he maneuvered through that flame-swept deck — burning debris all around him — and he took over a machine gun position.
He had never been trained as an aerial gunner. Never. And yet he confidently shot down four enemy aircraft.
Four. His extraordinary skill and bravery in the defense of his ship made Doris Miller the first African American to receive the Navy Cross. Fellow Texan Admiral Chester Nimitz placed that medal in his hands on May 7, 1942.
But the story doesn't end on a bright note, and it deserves to be told straight. Doris Miller died when his ship — the USS Linscombe Bay — was torpedoed in 1943. He did not live to see how far the ripple of what he did at Pearl Harbor would travel.
In 1973, the destroyer USS Miller was named in his honor. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. Associations, cemeteries, parks, naval bases, and organizations across the nation have honored him.
And the marker says it plainly: Doris Miller is credited with helping break down the color barrier in the Navy. A farm in McLennan County, Texas. That's where it started.
What he did with his time on this earth — that belongs to history.
What the marker says
Doris (Dorie) Miller was reared on a farm in McLennan County, Texas, and attended Waco's A.J. Moore High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the battleship "USS West Virginia" in 1940. The "West Virginia" was docked in Pearl Harbor when it was struck by a Japanese torpedo on December 7, 1941. Moments after the torpedo hit, an explosion on a nearby ship showered the "West Virginia's" deck with burning debris and flaming oil. Miller helped move his wounded captain to safety, then maneuvered through the flame-swept deck and took over a machine gun position. Though never trained as an aerial gunner, he confidently shot down four enemy aircraft. Miller reacted with such extraordinary skill and bravery in the defense of his ship that he became the first African American to receive the Navy Cross. Fellow Texan Admiral Chester Nimitz awarded him the Navy Cross on May 7, 1942. Miller died when his ship, the "USS Linscombe Bay," was torpedoed in 1943. The destroyer "USS Miller" was named in his honor in 1973. Miller, posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and honored by associations, cemeteries, parks, naval bases, and other organizations across the nation, is credited with helping break down the color barrier in the Navy.