Dorie Miller

CTL-E-6218 · Person · other · 1919–1943; World War II, 1939–1943

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07413 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6218.

Doris Miller, known as Dorie, was a United States Navy sailor born October 12, 1919, in Waco, Texas, where he grew up on his family's farm and played high-school football. He enlisted in 1939 as a mess attendant, one of the few roles then open to African Americans, and in 1940 was assigned to the battleship USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor, where he became the ship's heavyweight boxing champion. On December 7, 1941, after a torpedo strike damaged his battle station, he helped carry the ship's mortally wounded captain to safety, then loaded and fired an anti-aircraft machine gun he had never been trained to operate, and stayed to help evacuate shipmates after the order to abandon ship. He became the first African American awarded the Navy Cross, presented by Admiral Chester Nimitz on May 27, 1942. Promoted to cook third class, he was later assigned to the escort carrier USS Liscome Bay, and died November 24, 1943, when a torpedo sank that ship off the Gilbert Islands, at age twenty-four.

The record

• Also known as: Doris Miller

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 6 — 747 Program, Wave 13; sixth Scan Tail packet at the founder’s 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): Gate A CLEAR (script + hand-checked 2026-10-16): no Dorie Miller entity, alias, or variant in the live graph (3,910 entities). ID CTL-E-6218 free at staging. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger — scan string #2391 (corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json), banked in the Scan Tail Wave 5 reserve (Appendix E), re-screened CLEAR against the live graph at 3,910 entities by this wave. The supply supplied the name only; every fact is sourced under CTL-GOV-004. SCOPE GATE: World War II naval hero whose Pearl Harbor record became a national civil-rights argument; in scope as a people/life record, with no direct Chicago base. Vital status: DECEASED — born October 12, 1919, Waco, Texas (BlackPast); died November 24, 1943, when USS Liscome Bay was torpedoed in the Gilbert Islands, aged 24 (BlackPast; Navy confirms death in 1943 in the same sinking). STATISTICS — Navy Cross presented May 27, 1942 (BlackPast). CONFLICT SHOWN on aircraft credited: BlackPast reports Miller shot down at least two and perhaps as many as six Japanese aircraft; the opened Navy All Hands story makes no aircraft-count claim at all, so no single count is asserted in the description. MEDIA: photo HELD (The U.S. Navy photograph of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz pinning the Navy Cross on Doris Miller aboard USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor, May 27, 1942, reproduced on the BlackPast page and credited there to the U.S. Navy; HELD — no license is claimed and a file-level PHOTO-001 record is required before any use.); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6218-dorie-miller.svg); video HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short found in the Shorts Link Map (2026-10-15, 233 Shorts searched by name and variants); near-miss: none titled for Miller.); audio HELD (no rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged); map N/A. MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record’s sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short found in the Shorts Link Map (2026-10-15, 233 Shorts searched by name and variant) | audio = HELD (HELD: No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio exists at staging.)

Sources

• U.S. Navy, All Hands, The Story Behind an American Hero (January 23, 2020) (accessed 2026-10-16) — Doris Miller, known as Dorie; first African American recipient of the Navy Cross; grew up on family farm in Waco, Texas; enlisted as a ship's mess attendant in 1939; transferred to Pearl Harbor in 1940 aboard USS West Virginia, its heavyweight boxing champion; on December 7, 1941 helped carry the mortally wounded captain to safety, then loaded and fired an anti-aircraft machine gun he had not been trained to operate, and helped evacuate shipmates; died in 1943 when a torpedo sank USS Liscome Bay off Butaritari Atoll; USS Miller commissioned in his honor June 30, 1973; future carrier Doris Miller (CVN 81) named for him — https://allhands.navy.mil/Stories/Display-Story/Article/2064183/the-story-behind-an-american-hero/ (primary source · build store)
• BlackPast.org, Doris (Dorie) Miller (1919-1943) (accessed 2026-10-16) — born in Waco, Texas, on October 12, 1919; enlisted in 1939; assigned to USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor; actions on December 7, 1941 including firing an unattended 50-caliber anti-aircraft gun; Navy Cross awarded by Admiral Nimitz on May 27, 1942; promoted to Cook, third class; assigned to Liscome Bay, sunk in the Gilbert Islands on November 24, 1943, Miller aged 24; also received the Purple Heart and campaign medals; frigate USS Miller named for him in 1973 — https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/miller-doris-dorie-1919-1943/ (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6218 · Combined Graph record U-07413 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 2 sources.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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