| |
| |
|
|
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
|
|
|
WHEREAS, During the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, |
|
|
1941, Petty Officer Doris Miller of the U.S. Navy demonstrated |
|
|
valor above and beyond the call of duty, and he is long past due for |
|
|
full recognition of his extraordinary courage and initiative on |
|
|
that day; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, A native of Texas, Doris "Dorie" Miller was born in |
|
|
Waco on October 12, 1919, to Henrietta and Conery Miller; he was a |
|
|
fullback on the football team at Moore High School in Waco, and he |
|
|
went on to work on his father's farm; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In September 1939, Mr. Miller enlisted in the U.S. |
|
|
Navy as a way to see the world and earn money for his family; at that |
|
|
time, African Americans were only permitted to perform menial tasks |
|
|
in the Navy, so Mr. Miller was trained as a mess attendant at the |
|
|
Naval Training Station in Norfolk, Virginia; after a brief |
|
|
assignment on the ammunition ship USS Pyro, he was transferred in |
|
|
January 1940 to the battleship USS West Virginia, where he won |
|
|
distinction among the crew as the ship's heavyweight boxing |
|
|
champion; his rank at the time was mess attendant, second class; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Mr. Miller rose at 6 a.m. on the morning of December |
|
|
7, 1941, and he was collecting laundry when the Japanese attack |
|
|
began and the alarm for general quarters was sounded; even mess |
|
|
attendants had a battle station, but Mr. Miller's, an antiaircraft |
|
|
battery magazine, had already been destroyed by a torpedo, so he |
|
|
went up on deck where, as the ship began to sink, he hauled wounded |
|
|
shipmates through oil and water to safety on the quarterdeck; he was |
|
|
then ordered to the bridge, where he picked up the ship's mortally |
|
|
wounded captain and carried him to an aid station; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Mr. Miller then returned to the bridge, and on his |
|
|
own initiative, he began firing a .50-caliber Browning antiaircraft |
|
|
machine gun at the attacking Japanese planes; he had never trained |
|
|
on the weapon, but, as he reported later, "It wasn't hard, I just |
|
|
pulled the trigger and she worked fine"; with no concern for his own |
|
|
safety, he continued firing until the gun's ammunition ran out, |
|
|
possibly bringing down one of the enemy aircraft; in the meantime, |
|
|
the West Virginia had been hit by five enemy torpedoes, and |
|
|
Mr. Miller was finally forced to abandon ship with his surviving |
|
|
crewmates; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In the aftermath of the attack, Mr. Miller was |
|
|
commended by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and on May 27, 1942, |
|
|
he became the first African American to receive the Navy Cross, the |
|
|
service's second-highest honor, which was personally presented to |
|
|
him by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the commander of the Pacific |
|
|
Fleet; he went on to serve on the USS Indianapolis and then the USS |
|
|
Liscome Bay; that ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine on November |
|
|
24, 1943, and though his body was never recovered, Mr. Miller was |
|
|
eventually listed among the 646 sailors who died that day; at the |
|
|
time of his death, his rank was cook, third class; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In the years since, Mr. Miller's actions have become |
|
|
an important part of the legacy of Pearl Harbor; during the war, a |
|
|
poster from the U.S. Office of War Information featured his image |
|
|
and urged African Americans to join the war effort, and in 1973, a |
|
|
Knox-class frigate was christened the USS Miller in his honor; in |
|
|
1991, Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority dedicated a bronze plaque to him at |
|
|
the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, and in 2001, he was portrayed |
|
|
by the actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in the blockbuster film, Pearl Harbor; |
|
|
more recently, his story has been featured prominently in the |
|
|
National Museum of African American History and Culture in |
|
|
Washington, D.C.; in addition to the Navy Cross, he was also |
|
|
entitled to the Purple Heart, the American Defense Service Medal, |
|
|
Fleet Clasp, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War |
|
|
II Victory Medal; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In 1939, when the clouds of world war were gathering |
|
|
in Europe and Asia, Dorie Miller chose to enlist in a Navy that did |
|
|
not trust black men to serve in combat, and at a moment of direst |
|
|
need, he picked up a weapon he had never used before and fought back |
|
|
against a savage enemy, performing brilliantly and courageously |
|
|
under fire in defense of his ship, his crewmates, and his nation; |
|
|
his valiant service on that day, and afterwards, warrants the |
|
|
highest honor that can be bestowed upon a member of the armed forces |
|
|
of the United States; now, therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas |
|
|
hereby urge the United States Congress to bestow on Doris "Dorie" |
|
|
Miller the Congressional Medal of Honor; and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward official copies |
|
|
of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the |
|
|
secretary of the Navy, to the speaker of the House of |
|
|
Representatives and the president of the Senate of the United |
|
|
States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to |
|
|
Congress with the request that this resolution be officially |
|
|
entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of |
|
|
the United States of America. |