This is Doris Miller. Doris Miller was born in Waco, Texas, on 12 October 1919. He had to drop out of school to help support his family, working as a cook to supplement the family income during the Great Depression. In 1939, just before his 20th birthday, he enlisted in the United States Navy, and after training in Norfolk, Virginia, Miller became a Mess Attendant, one of the few positions open to African Americans in the Navy. Eventually, Miller was assigned to the U.S.S. West Virginia, a battleship, in January 1940. Seen as "only" a lower-ranking enlisted Black sailor, his superiors likely did not know that his upbringing in Texas as an excellent marksman. On Sunday 7 December 1941, Mess Attendant Third Class Doris Miller was retrieving laundry when the Japanese bombs fell on Pearl Harbor. He arrived on deck, where he encountered his mortally wounded commanding officer and carried him to safety. He proceeded to one of the machine guns and although black sailors never received training on the anti-aircraft guns, he opened fire on the Japanese planes overhead. After the gun ran out of ammunition, Miller assisted in evacuating sailors after the order to abandon ship and was one of the last three men to leave the vessel as it sank. Even after leaving the ship, he helped numerous sailors to safety, by physically carrying them. In a list the Navy issued during the following January of those to be lauded for their bravery at Pearl Harbor, the Navy mentioned a Black sailor -- Miller -- without explicitly identifying him. The NAACP pushed the Navy to honor Miller, eventually leading to the Navy awarding the sailor for his heroic acts. After his tour in the United States, Miller returned to active duty and was presumed killed in action at the Battle of Makin in the Pacific in November 1943, at the age of 22. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. Woy.