The US Navy is set to name a new aircraft carrier after a World War II hero who was the first African American to receive the prestigious Navy Cross medal.
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly will honour hero Doris Miller on Martin Luther King Day tomorrow, during a ceremony in Honolulu.
Miller was born in Waco, Texas, and is widely regarded as a national hero as well as a civil rights hero because of the actions he took at Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked the battleship West Virginia, where he was working as a mess attendant.
At the time, African Americans were not allowed to man a gun in the Navy, but Miller took charge amid the chaos and took hold of an anti-aircraft machine gun, which he fired against enemy planes. When his ammunition ran out, Miller raced to assist the fatally wounded commanding officer and others before the West Virginia sank.
His bravery earned him the Navy Cross, the second-highest military decoration, though many believe he deserved the top award, the Medal of Honor. Miller died nearly two years after Pearl Harbor while serving aboard the USS Liscome Bay.
According to Navy records cited by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Miller will be the first African American to have an aircraft carrier named after him. As of December, 14 ships had been named for African Americans, including destroyers and a ballistic missile submarine.
Doreen Ravenscroft, president of Cultural Arts of Waco and team leader for the Doris Miller Memorial, spoke about Miller’s accomplishments and the impact they had.
She commented:
I think that Doris Miller is an American hero simply because of what he represents as a young man going beyond the call of what’s expected.
Without him really knowing, he actually was a part of the civil rights movement because he changed the thinking in the Navy.
In the end, the fact that he didn’t think about what could be repercussions — that wasn’t a thought when, at the time and in war, he did what was needed in his way to defend the United States of America.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Waco native who has been encouraging the Navy to posthumously award Miller the Medal of Honor, will speak at the ceremony.
Two of Miller’s nieces are expected to be at Pearl Harbor for the announcement.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.