- While serving in the United States Navy as a Mess Attendant First Class, Doris Miller was aboard the battleship USS WEST VIRGINIA when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft during their assault on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. He assisted in moving his mortally wounded commanding officer to a place of greater safety. Later, he manned a machine gun in an attempt to shoot down enemy aircraft. For his actions, he was awarded the Navy Cross. Doris Miller was killed when a Japanese submarine torpedoed and sank his ship, the escort aircraft carrier USS Liscome Bay, on 24 November 1943.
- He was played by Elven Havard in Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), and by Cuba Gooding Jr. in Pearl Harbor (2001).
- Mess Attendant 2nd Class Doris Miller was the first African American to receive the Navy Cross for valor in 1942.
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