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“The Navy, meanwhile, has quietly charted a new course. A supercarrier now on the drawing boards will be christened the USS Doris Miller.
It's the first supercarrier to be named for an enlisted sailor and the first to be named after an African American.
...
During the attack on Pearl Harbor, as his battleship, the USS West Virginia, was sinking, the powerfully built Miller, who was the ship's boxing champion, helped move his dying captain to better cover, then jumped behind a machine gun and shot at Japanese planes until his ammunition was gone.
...
But Akers said what Miller did afterward is just as important: He began pulling injured sailors out of the burning, oil-covered water of the harbor, and was one of the last men to leave his ship as it sank, and continued getting sailors to safety afterward.”
This is very cool. There are times when tradition needs to be broken, and I think this is a fitting honor for Dorie Miller.
It's the first supercarrier to be named for an enlisted sailor and the first to be named after an African American.
...
During the attack on Pearl Harbor, as his battleship, the USS West Virginia, was sinking, the powerfully built Miller, who was the ship's boxing champion, helped move his dying captain to better cover, then jumped behind a machine gun and shot at Japanese planes until his ammunition was gone.
...
But Akers said what Miller did afterward is just as important: He began pulling injured sailors out of the burning, oil-covered water of the harbor, and was one of the last men to leave his ship as it sank, and continued getting sailors to safety afterward.”
A Military 1st: A Supercarrier Is Named After An African American Sailor
USS Doris Miller will honor a Black Pearl Harbor hero and key figure in the rise of the civil rights movement. Miller, a sharecropper's son from Waco, Texas, was 22 years old when he created history.
www.npr.org
This is very cool. There are times when tradition needs to be broken, and I think this is a fitting honor for Dorie Miller.