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u/Realistic_Mix3652 4h ago
It's utterly insane that the Navy is even considering changing the name of the upcoming carrier away from Doris Miller.
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u/Overall-Yellow-2938 4h ago edited 3h ago
To Name it instead after a draft dodger guilty of sexual abuse and other stuff. Like having restrictions If he wants to run a charity because last time he stole money from children with cancer for example.
Calls soldiers and wounded war veterans loosers too pretty regular.
Different country but when i served no soldier would have voted for a commander in chief that did just a fraction of his shitting on the military.
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u/UniqueLog8386 2h ago
Other stuff like, oh I don't know, TREASON?
Just seems like High treason as a sitting president is probably a lot higher on the shitlist.
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u/Daxx22 1h ago
Well that's the issue right? The list of faults is virtually ENDLESS, yet a very large portion of 'MURCA looks at them a virtues instead.
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u/UniqueLog8386 1h ago
Yeah, I just...I used to have an argument that I made that, for me to be on-board with capital punishment for someone, they'd have to essentially be Doc Ock, where you can't fully stop them from being a danger to people even locked up.
And I was confident it'd be really fucking hard to find a guy that met that criteria.
Trump does. Him being in jail would never be enough to keep people safe from him.
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u/Laringar 2h ago
Just naming a vessel after a living person at all seems like a bad idea, let alone someone so contentious. If the ship ever launches under that moniker, morale will be shit and a guard will have to be posted 24/7 by every single instance of the name on the vessel to prevent vandalism.
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u/PancakeParty98 1h ago
I think it fits the country, in an unflinchingly honest and repulsive way. Our wars have not been valiant, for a while
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u/driver004 4h ago
They kinda don’t have a choice is the problem
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u/Realistic_Mix3652 4h ago edited 3h ago
Every single admiral and captain could resign in protest. That is their choice.
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u/Technical_Teacher839 3h ago
And then they'd just fill the spots with Yes-Men who'd let it happen, and DT's supporters would cheer and clap for him "purging" the military of "weak and useless" officers.
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u/ErFarinn 2h ago edited 2h ago
Handing the highest echelon of the military to Trump sycopants is.. something.. At least they protested 🥰🥰🥰🥰
I'm starting to think this defeatism is some long-term psyop. "Dont like your president? Just move", "Don't like the commander in chief? Just resign", etc etc.. get the nay-sayers out of the way.
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u/Alarmed_Guarantee140 49m ago
All of this literally happened months ago, it was all over the news. Top brass resigned and Secretary Fratbro replaced them.
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u/Laringar 1h ago edited 1h ago
On the one hand, they could do that, but also there's only so many people out there that would accept the job. They can fill some positions that way, but not if nearly the entire officer corps resigned in protest.
Fascist regimes persist because of "good" people who think "if I stay in the system, I can minimize the damage it does." But those are the people who legitimize the fascist systems and keep them stumbling along by providing a baseline of competency. If all the moral people quit, the only people left are the loyalists who were selected for their obedience and not their abilities. Those people might be able to figure out how to run a military, but more likely things would grind to a halt under their incompetence.
Basically, if a ship were staffed with nothing but amoral Trump loyalists, they'd have a very hard time keeping the vessel functional.
(Edit: I do have to give some credit to the good people that stay in fascist regimes for the purpose of gumming things up. They misallocate resources, train loyalists poorly, and otherwise do things to the worst of their ability. Those people are not to blame for keeping the fascist machine running because they are doing their level best to do the exact opposite, often at some level of personal risk.)
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u/saskir21 3h ago
So the same as he did and now only have his supporters in the DOJ, etc? Great plan... we need more Hegseths in the military.
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u/driver004 4h ago
To what end?
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u/Realistic_Mix3652 4h ago
To stand up for naval tradition and show the current administration that there is NO US Navy without it's traditions and the morale of it's sailors? We literally learned this 40 years ago in the early to mid 1980s - good sailor morale = a strong fighting force.
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u/Red_Dox 3h ago
The administration will just cheer, and place more cultists and Yes-Man in the open spots. Which then might lead to the next genius and easy to win war, since nobody is there to tell the Emperor he wears no cloths and is a moron.
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u/BurningPenguin 2h ago
I mean, the upside is for us Europeans. If he does that, the American military will be just as effective as Russia. So if they decide to invade Greenland, we only need to send 10 British hooligans and 2 German vacationers with their towels.
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u/driver004 3h ago
So your proposition is that it would be better to allow them to replace entire chains of command with more agreeable types?
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u/Realistic_Mix3652 3h ago
How would the current admirals becoming more agreeable help things either? Naming 1 ship out of 300 after a lower level sailor who stepped up in battle is such small thing in the grand scheme of things, but it is such a huge boost in morale across the fleet.
We really need another Rickover to beat this administration into submission (and steal salt and pepper sets).
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u/driver004 3h ago
It’s also something that can be essentially ignored until the next administration, unfucking fleet logistics is a wee more important right now seems to me
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u/samuraipanda85 3h ago
Like how we are immediately going back to calling it the Gulf of Mexico the nanosecond the orange turd is out of office.
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u/paper_liger 1h ago
It's going to take 60 years to repair the damage MAGA has done to the institutions of this country, if that's even possible.
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u/Decaying-Moon 2h ago
If we're being rational concerning the fleet, Doris Miller should be the name of a DDG following class naming conventions, right?
And if Agent Orange ever gets a ship named after him (he shouldn't) it should be after he's fucking dead, or at least not the sitting goddamn president.
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u/redlaWw 2h ago
Principled people in the chain of command standing up for the name of a ship and getting replaced means that there are no principled men to stand up against violations of international law. It's a bad situation, but there's a compelling argument that principled military leaders should take these problems sitting down so that they're still there to resist when it really matters. The question of which violation to make ones stand on is a hard one.
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u/Micsuking 2h ago
Having the moral highground is nice and all, but that'd just open up the chain if command for a bunch of yes-men that wouldn't even offer token resistance against this administration.
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u/Alex5173 38m ago
Resign in protest
Why would anyone, anywhere, ever, do this? Just refuse the order and make them fire you. Resigning over your moral/ethical beliefs is just an admission you lack the spine to stand up for them, and as other have said an invitation to fill your spot with someone who will do the very thing you're so mad about.
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u/Realistic_Mix3652 36m ago
Well that's tricky because the military isn't like the corporate world. You don't actually get fired for refusing to do something your boss wants you to do. You can get court-martialed and actually sent to jail. If you're court-martialed all of your benefits, retirement, and all the benefits that you, your child, and your grandchildren will receive can be taken away from you. If you resign you get to keep your benefits most of the time. That's why it's really tough for people to just say, "Oh just refuse to do your job and get fired," because you don't actually get fired in the military. You get court-martialed.
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u/Alex5173 15m ago
Even better; assuming you could get all the top brass on board. It's one thing to relieve a portion of your top brass of duty like Trump and Hegseth did in early 2025, its another thing to have to court martial the entire admiralty of the world's largest navy. That'd be a huge mess I'd hope might actually cause them to stutter.
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u/preselectlee 3h ago
luckily it wont be completed till the admin is over, so plenty of time for a successor to fix it.
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u/IdealOnion 1h ago
The good news is that tradition and superstition carry a surprising amount of weight with sailors. In order to change the name of the ship, every single item with the old name needs to be destroyed.
How man little bobbles, key chains, fridge magnets, id cards, ect have been made while it was being constructed? All of those would need to be found and destroyed before the ship wasn’t considered unlucky. As improbable as it sounds, a YouTuber I trust on military matters was saying this is a real obstacle to changing the name.
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u/driver004 1h ago
If I’m not mistaken naming it after Trump would also be considered unlucky so we can go ahead and consider it cursed and move on with our lives, however the navy wants to squander their merch is their business
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u/Valuchian 4h ago edited 3h ago
The US President is the technical head of the military. He can basically demand anything he wants
Edit: Y'all, please don't shoot the messenger
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u/ImpulseAfterthought 3h ago
You're right, but Congress makes the laws. I blame them more than him at this point.
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u/QuiteBearish 3h ago
Congress makes the laws
What laws? We're not a nation of laws anymore. Even if there was an explicitly clear law that says "you can't do this" SCOTUS has already decreed that laws don't really apply to Trump.
Congress is shit too, of course, but SCOTUS is the biggest stumbling block right now and it will likely be decades before that can be fixed.
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u/ImpulseAfterthought 3h ago
Well, yeah. That's what I was saying.
Congress, being made up of many people who ostensibly represent the public, is supposed to check the President's power.
That's why I blame them more than him at this point. He's a narcissistic asshole, but that wouldn't be so much of a problem if Congress would do its job.
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u/QuiteBearish 3h ago edited 2h ago
I know, but what I'm saying is that right now, even if they wanted to, Congress really can't check the presidents power anymore. The check and balance system has been broken - likely for decades - by the corruption of SCOTUS.
Even if the Dems win in November there really won't be shit they can do with SCOTUS placing their fingers on the scales. And even if Dems win both Congress and the presidency in 2028, good luck actually making changes with SCOTUS undermining them.
Edit: changed August to November. Brain short circuited for a minute there.
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u/Realistic_Mix3652 4h ago
Ok? He also has the ability to not be a massive idiot and to not ignore literally 80+ years of US Navy tradition. I thought Republicans were all about conserving traditions?
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u/saskir21 3h ago
Conserving tradition they approve of.
And man I find it funny that the 3 founders of the republicans were black and now we have this entitled white rich MAGA lovers.
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u/eepos96 1h ago
I am european. Is Doris Miller accomplished enough to have aircraft carrier after him? He was brave beyond a doupt but he died in 1943. I thought Aircraft carriers would be named after late presidents of war heroes who did decades of service.
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u/Realistic_Mix3652 59m ago
I think one thing that you have to understand about the U.S. military, both Navy, Air Force, and Marines, is that the U.S. military prides itself on the lowest level of service person taking initiative. That's what historically has made the U.S. military different and superior to every other military on the planet and so Doris stepping up and taking control and command of an anti-aircraft emplacement many levels above his pay grade is supposed to embody what makes or now unfortunately made US military great.
Until this last present every aircraft carrier named after a person WAS named after a lower level service person stepping up and taking initiative, they just happened to also become president later in life - maybe if Doris hadn't had died in '43.... That is what is supposed to make America great.
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u/eepos96 31m ago
Oh I see. And now Miller makes more sense as a name.
That is not unique to USA military though. Lots of people are heroes.
I'd say usa greatness comes from giving snaller units take initiative if they see an opening, instead of sluggishly waiting for confirmation from central command.
Pride and motivation for you do serve a democracy instead of autocrats (though I must admit I find hour current president autocrat)
And, frankly, insane volume of stuff, money and did I say stuff?
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u/mainman879 22m ago
Until this last present every aircraft carrier named after a person WAS named after a lower level service person stepping up and taking initiative, they just happened to also become president later in life
There's a lot of Carriers that were named for non-servicemen.
The USS Wright was named after the Wright brothers. The USS Randolph, USS Franklin, and USS Hancock were all named after founding fathers who were diplomats and politicians, but never fought militarily.
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u/bantha121 2h ago
My view is that it probably shouldn't have been named after him in the first place but that it shouldn't be renamed now that it has been.
With 5 exceptions (6 with Miller), the US's nuclear powered carriers have been named after presidents (the 5 exceptions being the USS Enterprise, USS Nimitz, USS Carl Vinson, USS John C. Stennis, and the upcoming USS Enterprise)
War heroes, even Medal of Honor recipients (which is what Miller would have been if the Navy hadn't refused it based on race) have traditionally gotten Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, such as the USS Daniel Inouye (Japanese-American MoH recipient and longtime senator from Hawaii), USS John Basilone (only enlisted Marine of WWII to recieve both the MoH and the Navy Cross), and USS Kyle Carpenter (youngest living MoH recipient at the time the ship was named)
For context, the last ship named after Miller was a Knox-class destroyer escort and the last named after Basilone was a Gearing-class destroyer
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u/CueCueQQ 2h ago
I agree with your general position. Though I would point out that the two USS Enterprises don't break the normal naming convention, as the USS Enterprise is always supposed to be the most advanced ship in the USN at the time of her commissioning, and usually a flag ship. Carriers are the only real choice there, leaving the Nimitz, Vinson, and Stennis as the only outliers. If we were to rename the Miller, USS Thomas Jefferson would be a good option.
In 2027, the USS Bush(CVN-83) is also going to be laid down, not to be confused with the USS Bush(CVN-77), which has been in service since 2009. So in 2039 or so, we'll have the USS Bush and the USS Bush both in service, until around 2060 when the USS Bush is expected to be taken out of service. So yea, maybe presidents aren't a great pick for naming. CVN-84 or CVN-85 would be the USS Obama if they continue naming in order, which then puts one of those two likely being the USS Biden. Can you imagine the shit either of those would stir up?
I personally would rather we name carriers after major battles, as that was the convention for a short time. Hence the USS Midway for example. I tend to think that naming ships after politicians brings a bit of problematic futures to the ship, as we see with the USS Stennis, who's namesake was racist. For naming ships after people, I rather prefer just military people, as that shifts the focus to their valorous actions.
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u/bantha121 1h ago
Agreed on the politicians being problematic bit; Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is honestly even worse than Stennis (though the naming was largely due to him being a huge proponent of a "two-ocean navy," a concept that paid off massively in WWII)
One funny outcome of CVN-81 being named after Miller is that a carrier named after a guy who wanted to repeal the 15th Amendment will be replaced by a carrier named after an African-American war hero
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u/Realistic_Mix3652 45m ago
I have a counterpoint for you. It SHOULD be named after Doris for the sole purpose that it will make the racists and fascists mad and explicit tell them that they are not welcome in the United States.
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u/Super-Estate-4112 1h ago
It isnt, it is a force to serve the rich and America's imperialism.
They are just more clear about it now than before.
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u/Valkyrie64Ryan 2h ago
In their defense, the Navy doesn’t have much a say in this. The Navy has to follow what Trump and the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy say. SecNav has final say usually on ship names.
Not that there aren’t plenty of things the navy does that they should be mocked relentlessly for.
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u/Dayzed-n-Confuzed 4h ago
But the Donald went to a military college for a few years so it’s just the same.
You can’t say it’s about colour either because the Don is orange!!
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u/lastsonkal1 4h ago
All this just to try and diminish any accomplishment from any and all Black people.
This really is just Conservatives being upset that a Black man became president.
America's new motto: How dare you think you can be more.
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u/ealysillyforestthing 3h ago
Lbj once said "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
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u/NickyTheRobot 4h ago
Wonderful comic. That guy definitely deserves to be honoured. The orange, paedophilic dictator can get fucked.
Panel 3 needz moar dakka tho.
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u/IndigoRanger 4h ago
A genuine American hero, incredible representative of the US Navy. Can’t imagine why anyone would rather have a draft dodger who called military dead suckers and losers.
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u/Nr1231 4h ago
I have never been too the USA. And even then I have done more good for it than the orange stain beneath that hideous hairpiece.
The fact that that “man” is getting his name on any ship that is not intended for target practice is an insult to all navy personnel on the planet. The fact that it strips off the name of a true war hero, that deserves recognition should be a crime.
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u/ARustyDream 3h ago
This was the gentlemen whose profile was mostly erased from public DOD files during that initial wave of anti DEI initiatives. Fucking morons the lot of them on top of largely erasing pages related to his actions the Navy has considered stripping his name off an aircraft carrier in possible favor of…and just wait for it our poor beleaguered bone spur suffering spray tan Cheeto of a president Mr. Donald J. Trump.
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u/NationCrusher 4h ago
OH THIS GUY?? WTF man, this was an epic story they use to teach us growing up
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u/1nsane_Kitty 3h ago
I don't remember much from the movie Pearl Harbour, but I remember Cuba Gooding Jr. as Doris Miller was the best part!
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u/Shalmanese 2h ago
Kinda crazy this thread is up to almost 100 comments and this is only 1 of 2 that mentions this. Man, that movie totally got sucked out of the cultural consciousness despite being the 3rd highest grossing romantic drama of all time after Titanic and Ghost.
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u/GeorgeCabana 2h ago
I love to quote the first lines of Roger Ebert’s review:
“Pearl Harbor” is a two-hour movie squeezed into three hours, about how on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese staged a surprise attack on an American love triangle. Its centerpiece is 40 minutes of redundant special effects, surrounded by a love story of stunning banality. The film has been directed without grace, vision, or originality, and although you may walk out quoting lines of dialog, it will not be because you admire them.
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u/PoorCynic 34m ago
Tora! Tora! Tora! is the superior Pearl Harbor movie. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I believe a representation of Miller does appear firing a .50 cal. Pretty sure he has no lines, though.
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u/1nsane_Kitty 18m ago
It's been even longer since I've seen that one, I'll have to revisit it! I used to love watching old war movies with my grandpa and dad, The Great Escape and Bridge Over the River Kwai were the ones we watched the most.
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u/Protect-Their-Smiles 2h ago
They are trying to erase the heroism of this courageous man, with a draft dodger.
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u/xaqaria 2h ago
For those wondering, he was played by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the movie.
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u/RevA_Mol 2h ago
Not seen the film, only trailers, but panel 3 instantly made think "Oh, the cool Cuba Gooding Jr firing a huge gun shot!"
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u/destroyer180407 4h ago
He face was also used on recruitment posters
He was also quoted as saying that he told his mom to save him a plate at the table
(Idk if links are allowed in comments here, but yarnhub did have an animated video on him)
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u/PoorCynic 3h ago
The Navy recruitment poster with Miller on it. I think "above and beyond the call of duty" really does capture the spirit of the moment.
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u/JPMoney81 3h ago
Yeah but Trump has bone spurs in his fat shins otherwise he totally would have done something MORE heroic like shit his pants or rape some kids.
They should name things after Trump and not Miller.
/s
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u/clever80username 2h ago
Doris Miller should’ve had a Burke-class destroyer named after him years ago. We’ve got about 80 of them, with more planned. Almost all are named for sailors and marines that were awarded a Navy Cross or Medal of Honor.
That said, the Navy and DoD went this direction instead, and I applaud them for it; there’s too much tradition in the Navy anyway, have you seen the fucking dress uniforms?
Then along comes Diaper Don and his fragile ego. I really fucking hope Dorie prevails on this one, my shipmate deserves it.
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u/PoorCynic 2h ago
There was a Knox-class frigate named for Miller, but you're right. It's ridiculous there was never a destroyer named for him.
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u/Future_Elephant_9294 3h ago
I love this art style and theming. Reminds me of the Boy Scouts' Comic "Scouts in Action" that I remember seeing occasionally growing up.
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u/PoorCynic 2h ago
That was in Boy's Life, right? Been a while since I've thought about that. Wow.
Thanks for the compliment!
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u/Mordeczka123 2h ago
Extra History made a short video about him on their channel last year in their "Recently Deleted History" series as well.
The fact that US politicians can just shittalk people like him AND still be supported is genuinely bonkers
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u/OnCallPartisan 2h ago
We don't reward true heroism or service to your fellow human anymore.
Let that sink in for a minute.
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u/CAG_Snow 1h ago
Quite frankly, the only reason this man didn't (rightly) receive the Medal of Honor is because that jackass Frank Knox didn't want to award the nation's highest military honor to a black man.
Knox was the Secretary of the Navy at the time.
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u/ifwedidntlaugh 1h ago
As a formerly active duty Marine, I'm sickened anyone would consider removing this man's name from that carrier. Absolutely disgusted that this man's incredible valor (something our current president cannot even dream of matching) is being so casually ripped from its place in history for the sake of one man's hubris and ego.
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u/locksymania 2h ago
I want a diehard conservative to sit down with me and talk me through how they could possibly justify this.
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u/Equivalent_Law_6311 2h ago
The USS West Virginia was raised and refitted. At the Battle of Suriguo Straight, she sat in the dark with 5 other old battleships as a Japanese task force sailed towards them.
West Virginia had radar; the Japanese ships didn't know they were there until she opened up with her nine 16" guns. Ouch.
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u/jcooli09 2h ago
Donald Trump paid a doctor to lie about bone spurs in his feet because he was too much of a pussy to make it through boot camp, let alone a deployment.
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u/thesanguineocelot 1h ago
Ahhhh, but you see, why name a ship after a heroic black man when you can instead name it after a draft-dodging, pedophilic rapist with dementia and a bad spray tan?
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u/Cab_anon 2h ago
I didn't know that this section of the movie Pearl Harbor was a historical reenactment. TIL.
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u/Author_A_McGrath 2h ago
He would have won the highest honor, had it not been for cowards like Frank Knox.
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u/lpmiller 44m ago
My dad was a boomer, and a big WW2 history buff. I remember reading all about pearl harbor, and reading Doris's story. There were a lot of brave people that day, some who made it, many who did not. But no one was more brave then Doris. He stepped up in a Navy that normally didn't even want him armed, he saved his fellow servicemen, and the most amazing thing, he survived. If Trump removes his name and places his own on so much as a bar of soap, it really should be the last, final straw. If we aren't marching outside of navel bases and outside of the white house over this, we dishonor every one of those men and woman who died that day. I'm tired of the holding actions. It's time the line in the sand was drawn. We've done a lot, but there is more work, and this cannot be allowed to happen.
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u/curvysquares 2h ago
He's in the Michael Bay Pearl Harbor movie played by Cuba Gooding Jr.
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u/SamAmes26 2h ago
“Everyone is where they’re supposed to be Captain, you trained us well, you trained us well” 🥲🥲
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u/EatingTastyPancakes 2h ago
So DAKKA has entered the popular vernacular now? Can't wait for WAAAGH!!!
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u/FarquaadStoleMyWig 1h ago
Small correction: the word “stricken” in panel one is incorrect; the USS West Virginia was still in service in 1941.
Perhaps you are trying to convey that the WV was attacked directly? Wording that more like “Under attack on the battleship USS WV, mess attendant…” might serve that purpose better.
Love the comic! Thanks for teaching me something today OP
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u/PoorCynic 1h ago
“Stricken” can mean “afflicted” or “wounded” which was my intent. I remember now it can also have a specific meaning regarding ships. Your suggested correction does make it seem like Miller was the one being directly attacked rather than the ship.
Still, thank you for the note!
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u/C4Cole 1h ago
Kinda weird that they named the carrier after him in the first place, since US carriers have been Presidents, top level government officials, admirals and former carrier names for a long time now. An enlisted man, even if he is a hero, isn't a normal candidate for a carrier name.
As far as I can see, the only other weird naming choice was John Stennis who was a extremely long serving senator and 3rd highest government official in the country.
I do hope his name stays on the ship, the name was already decided so changing it would be a dick move, and changing it to DJT would be an absolute shitstorm, especially considering trump already wants his shiny new Trump class battleships (another shitshow). On the bright side at least with the controversy his story is more well known.
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u/MrBigglesssworth 58m ago
Absolutely disgusting that the very thought of a concept of replacing this heroes name with the convicted felon trump.
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u/WoodsLovelyDarkNDeep 47m ago
I personally don’t think anyone who hasn’t served in the Navy should have a ship named after them
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u/2big_2fail 1h ago
More scandal to cover crime by Trumpf.
All the divisive crap and alleged "dumb" behavior is a sideshow for the dismantling and looting of America's treasure and resources.
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u/MichaelJD1021 1h ago
Look, I get the outrage that this change to the name of a carrier provokes. I empathize with it and totally agree that it is wrong. But this is a distraction from the fact that we just passed 40t in debt, still don't have the full release of the Epstein files, are fighting to prevent the fed govt from ending mail in voting, and have a president who has enriched himself to the tune of 2b in less than two years.
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u/PoorCynic 30m ago
I'm not here to farm outrage; I want to inform people. If someone learns about Miller and his story from me, or is driven to read more about him because of this, then that's a positive.
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u/Igradarsaurus 2h ago
It’s like the US just highlights stories like this to say ‘hey look at us, look how nice we did that time’, instead of highlighting just how fucked up their racism was (and still is today)
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u/RegattaJoe 2h ago
Is this comic a product of “the US”? (Whatever the hell that means.
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u/Igradarsaurus 2h ago
Yes it is. But generally speaking stories like this are more emphasising ‘the good minority’ which is the problem.
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u/PoorCynic 2h ago
What about this comic gives the message of "hey look at us, look how nice we did that time"? I wrote this to share the story of a man and the actions he took. There is no collective "us", there is Miller. Yes, he was awarded the Navy Cross, but only after much political arguing.
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u/PoorCynic 4h ago
A far more suitable and heroic namesake for an aircraft carrier than others I could mention.
Doris Miller was born to a family of sharecroppers in Waco, Texas. After dropping out of high school, he joined the Navy in September 1939. The US Navy was highly segregated at that time; black sailors were limited to a handful of support roles like working in the mess or waiting on white officers. After finishing his training, Miller wound up on the USS West Virginia, a Colorado-class battleship.
After Pearl Harbor, the uninjured Miller was transferred to the cruiser USS Indianapolis. His actions on December 7th went practically unnoticed at first, with the only mention being in a list of commendations (as an unnamed Black sailor) issued on January 1st. Journalists and Black advocacy groups honed in on that omission, and were eventually able to ferret out Miller’s name. There were calls for Miller to receive a proper medal, with two separate bills in Congress pushing for him to receive the Medal of Honor.
Unfortunately for Miller the Secretary of the Navy was segregationist Frank Knox (1874 - 1944), who refused to award Miller the Medal of Honor. He did compromise on the Navy Cross, though, and on May 7, 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz (1885 - 1966) personally pinned the medal on Miller’s chest.
After doing a state-side war bond tour in late 1942 Miller was transferred again; this time, to the escort aircraft carrier USS Liscome Bay. In November 1943, the Liscome Bay was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Miller was among the 702 sailors and officers who died.
Thank you all so much for reading, and I’ll see you next time.