“Dorie Miller stood for everything that is good about our nation. “He died as he lived, an American sailor defending his nation, shoulder to shoulder with his shipmates, until the end,” Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said. The Navy has since honored him by naming a new aircraft carrier after him. portrayed Miller in the 2001 film, “Pearl Harbor,” and a statue has been built in his honor in his hometown of Waco, Texas. Three decades later, the Navy named a ship after him.Ĭuba Gooding Jr. He became the first Black seaman to receive the Navy Cross for valor, and a Navy recruiting poster featured him with the slogan, “above and beyond the call of duty.”īefore 1943 ended, a torpedo struck his ship, the Liscome Bay, killing Miller and more than 600 other crew members. When enemy planes swooped down, he stood behind an anti-aircraft gun and began firing, despite no prior training. Navy poster of Dorie Miller by David Stone Martin Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)ĭoris “Dorie” Miller, a mess attendant aboard the battleship USS West Virginia, carried the injured captain and other shipmates to safety during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
