Doris "Dorie" Miller: A True American Hero

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump's rampaging vanity and never-ending push to get his name on things has resurfaced and escalated - this time to an . . . dare I say it . . . almost insane level.

This story has to do with a Naval aircraft carrier currently under construction, a ship that was mentioned in this space a few days ago in a blog posting entitled "Ballrooms, Bankruptcy, and Bullshit" that ran on August 15th.  In the original story it was noted that the USS Doris Miller, which is under construction and already two years behind schedule, is being targeted by the Trump administration as trial balloon for one of the President's personal penchants.  Trump is promoting the idea of scraping digital electronic catapults to launch planes into the air from aircraft carriers, and instead replacing them with steam catapults, a technology that was in use seventy-five years ago.  Somebody got Trump's ear on the matter and told him that the old steam catapults were easier to repair - and a man with a hammer could do it.  

Today there was another story involving the still-under-construction USS Doris Miller in the press.  Apparently the Navy is having second thoughts about naming the vessel after a bonafide World War II hero and instead is considering naming it after the sitting President of the United States - something that currently is not done.  The Navy has quit using the name "Doris Miller" for the ship under construction and now refers to it only by its hull number, CVN-81.  The keel for the ship will be laid in a public ceremony at the end of this year, and a name will have to be elected by then.

Former Acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modley, a Trump appointee, announced in January of 2020 (on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) that the ship would be named after Doris "Dorie" Miller, the black son of a sharecropper who joined the Navy in 1939 and was serving aboard the USS Arizona when that ship was attacked and sunk by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.   Miller, a Mess Attendant 3rd Class at the time, was involved in several acts of heroism that day, but managed to survive.   He was later personally awarded the Navy Cross by Admiral Chester Nimitz.  The heroic sailor was killed in combat later in the war.  

Dorie Miller, a US sailor of very low rank whose duties were to perform menial tasks for the Navy, saved the life of his commander at Pearl Harbor and later grabbed an anti-aircraft gun, with no training on the weapon, and began firing on the Japanese bombers.   He gave everything he had for the United States of America.

Donald Trump is a son of wealth and privilege who was born into a family where no one had ever donned a uniform for their country.   Trump actively sought and accepted five draft deferments during the Vietnam War.  

The contrast between Doris "Dorie" Miller and Donald Trump is stark, a study in black and white.  Doris Miller earned the honor of having his name on a US aircraft carrier through blood-soaked valor, a true American hero.  To rescind that honor now and instead award it to an undeserving politician with felony convictions and an obscenely swollen ego would be an insult to every person who has ever worn an American military uniform.

Leave Mess Attendant 3rd Class Doris Miller's name on the new aircraft carrier - and stop this insane effort to steal the glory he so rightfully earned through the ultimate sacrifice - just to assuage the ego of an impaired narcissist.

Thank you, Doris Miller, for stepping into the breach and defending democracy.  A grateful nation remembers and salutes you, sir!