Today, we remember all the heroes that fought during the attack on Pearl Harbor, #otd Dec. 7, 1941. One of those heroes was Cook 3rd Class Doris Miller, whose legacy lives on as the namesake of future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller (CVN 81).
When the first bombs blasted his ship, Colorado-class battleship USS West Virginia (BB 48), while at anchor in Pearl Harbor, Miller raced to an unattended deck gun and fired at the attacking planes until forced to abandon ship. It was Miller’s first experience firing such a weapon because black sailors serving in the segregated steward’s branch of the U.S. Navy were not given the gunnery training received by white sailors. Miller was credited with downing as many as five aircraft and was awarded the Navy Cross on May 27, 1942, in a ceremony at Pearl Harbor.