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The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep297: UNORDERED HEROISM AND THE ULTIMATE BLUFF Colleague Admiral James Stavridis. Stavridis recounts the extraordinary heroism of Dorie Miller, a cook at Pearl Harbor who, despite segregation and lack of training, manned a machine gun and saved his captain with

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Arts, Books, Society & Culture, News

4.62.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

UNORDERED HEROISM AND THE ULTIMATE BLUFF Colleague Admiral James Stavridis. Stavridis recounts the extraordinary heroism of Dorie Miller, a cook at Pearl Harbor who, despite segregation and lack of training, manned a machine gun and saved his captain without orders. The segment concludes with Commander Ernest Evans of the USS Johnston at Leyte Gulf. Facing a massive Japanese fleet with no support, Evans led a suicidal charge to protect the landing force. This bluff convinced the Japanese that a larger American force must be nearby, causing them to retreat and saving the operation through sheer audacity and the sacrifice of the "tin can sailors." STAVRIDIS NUMBER 4
1932 ITALY HEAVY CRUISER TRENTO IN SHANGAI HARBOR

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:34.4

with Indeed.

0:42.2

This is CBSI in the world.

0:44.3

I'm John Batchel with Admiral Jim Stavridis.

0:45.9

The United States Navy retired.

0:50.2

His new book is, To Risk It All, Nine Conflicts in the Crucible of Decision.

0:58.5

It is December 7th, 1941 on USS, West Virginia, a battleship, a dreadnought tied up in Pearl Harbor,

1:03.8

and now being attacked by the wave after wave of Japanese warplanes.

1:08.4

This is the moment that begins the crisis for the U.S. Navy.

1:14.8

A Cook third class, Doris Dory Miller from Waco, Texas, African American,

1:22.5

is spending that day to Sunday on board with his friends, and yet the attack comes, and they're told to go to general quarters. At that moment, Doris Dory Miller makes decisions that I, Jim, I don't understand

1:30.6

how he came to this level of heroism and he stayed there all day. He must have known he wasn't

1:35.3

going to survive. Indeed. You can only look at this as an act of pure courage, pure heroism.

1:44.0

He literally charges to the sound of the guns. He goes to the

1:47.5

bridge of the ship where his captain has been mortally wounded, but he helps evacuate the captain from

1:53.1

the bridge. And then most famously, he goes down to a gun deck. There's a crew served single

2:00.3

anti-aircraft gun.

...

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