Ep. 79: Dorie Miller–A Texas War Hero

Wise About Texas

Ken Wise

Culture, Places & Travel, Society & Culture, San, Education, Texans, Texan, Cowboy, History, Texas, Jacinto

4.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2020

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On December 7, 1941, Mess Attendant Doris “Dorie” Miller was doing laundry, one of the few jobs available to African American sailors in the U.S. Navy at the time. When his ship came under attack, Miller rushed to help his fellow sailors. Though not trained, and not allowed, he manned an anti-aircraft gun and engaged the attacking Japanese planes. For his bravery and his willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty, Miller was the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross. But his heroism affected not only the Navy, but the entire military. Recently, the U.S. Navy announced yet another tribute to Dorie Miller, a Texas war hero. Learn more about this brave Texan in the latest episode of Wise About Texas.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Howdy and welcome to another episode of Wise About Texas, your award-winning Texas History Podcast.
0:14.4	I'm your host Ken Wise.
0:15.8	I want to thank you for tuning in today.
0:18.2	I appreciate it.
0:19.2	When we were last together, I told you the story of Sister Maria de Grada, The Lady in Blue, who claims to
0:27.2	have by located to Texas in the 17th century. Well, I've had some great feedback
0:31.7	on that wonderful story. I certainly appreciate it.
0:34.0	It's a fascinating story so if you haven't heard episode 78 go back and check out
0:38.9	The Lady in Blue. This podcast is being released in February 2020, so we are right in the middle of the high
0:47.3	holy days of Texas history, the 184th anniversary of the Texas Revolution. But some news came out the other day that caused me to interrupt
0:57.6	one episode I was working on related to the Revolution and start working on this one. It relates to a war just a little later in time and a little bigger in scale than the Revolution. But of course it involves a Texan.
1:13.2	You see, one morning a man from Waco, Texas was on duty as a mess attendant in the U.S. Navy,
1:19.6	aboard the U.S. West Virginia.
1:22.1	About 755 that morning, the alarm sounded the
1:23.0	U.S.S. West Virginia. About 755 that morning, the alarms sounded for general quarters.
1:26.0	The sailor heard airplanes, explosions,
1:29.0	chaos.
1:30.0	It was December 7th, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Mess attendant Second Class
1:37.4	Dory
1:44.3	Miller was born in Waco, Texas in October 1919 to Henrietta and Connery Miller.
1:48.0	He had three brothers and the story goes that the midwife assisting in his birth was sure that the baby would be a girl and gave the baby the named Doris, which stuck even though it turned out to be a boy.
2:01.0	His parents were sharecroppers and Dory, I'm going to call him Dory because that's what he went by later in his life.
	...

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