For his actions at Pearl Harbor, he deserves our highest military honor

The son of Texas sharecroppers, Miller joined the Navy two years before Pearl Harbor, at age 20, serving in the noncombat roles that were the only opportunities the U.S. military afforded African Americans at the time. He was a mess attendant on the USS West Virginia on that fateful Sunday morning, earning extra money by doing laundry and providing wake-up calls to officers.

When the first bombs fell, Miller, despite his lowly rank, did not hesitate to act. He assisted in moving injured sailors to safety, including the ship’s mortally wounded captain, before taking over an unmanned antiaircraft gun and firing at the attacking planes. He is credited with shooting down at least two, despite having had no training in the use of the weapon. “It wasn’t hard,” he later said, since he had watched his shipmates operating the guns. “I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine.”

Sixteen people were awarded the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military’s highest honor, for their actions at Pearl Harbor, but Miller was not one of them. Indeed, no African American servicemen would be awarded the Medal of Honor for their heroics in World War II until the late 1990s.

The Navy initially kept Miller’s identity hidden. It was investigative reporting by the Pittsburgh Courier, a Black newspaper, and NAACP pressure on the Navy brass and President Franklin D. Roosevelt that led to Miller being awarded the Navy Cross in May 1942. But efforts to award him the Medal of Honor were defeated in Congress.

In 2020, the Navy announced that it would build an aircraft carrier to be named the USS Doris Miller. This is an honor, and the first time a Navy aircraft carrier will be named after an African American. But Miller’s actions at Pearl Harbor warrant the greatest recognition. Congress can still correct this wrong, as it did in presenting a long-overdue Congressional Gold Medal, the legislative branch’s highest honor, to the Tuskegee Airmen in 2007 and the African American women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (Six Triple Eight) in 2022.

Sadly, Dorie Miller did not survive the war. Along with about 600 other crew members, as well as dozens of officers, he went down with the USS Liscome Bay when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1943. It’s past time to commemorate his courage and respect his memory — and award him the Medal of Honor.