Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Navy to name aircraft carrier for Pearl Harbor hero Doris Miller
Honolulu Star-Ad ^ | Jan. 17 , 2020 | Will Cole

Posted on 01/17/2020 11:19:16 PM PST by LeoWindhorse

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Pearl Harbor Monday, the U.S. Navy is expected to announce that a new aircraft carrier will be named after Mess Attendant 2nd Class Doris Miller, the first African American to receive the Navy Cross for valor for his actions on Dec. 7, 1941, when he manned a machine gun on the USS West Virginia to fire back at attacking Japanese planes.

“I think that Doris Miller is an American hero simply because of what he represents as a young man going beyond the call of what’s expected,” said Doreen Ravenscroft, president of Cultural Arts of Waco (Texas), and team leader for the Doris Miller Memorial.

In 1941, an African American was not allowed to man a gun in the Navy, and as far as rank was concerned, “he could not really get above a messman level,” Ravenscroft said. His actions started to turn the tide, she added.

“Without him really knowing, he actually was a part of the Civil Rights movement because he changed the thinking in the Navy,” Ravenscroft said.

“In the end, the fact that he didn’t think about what could be repercussions — that wasn’t a thought, when, at the time and in war, he did what was needed in his way to defend the United States of America,” she said.

(Excerpt) Read more at staradvertiser.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Hawaii
KEYWORDS: aircraftcarrier; carrier; dorismiller; makinisland; pearlharbor; usn; ww2
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-82 next last
To: Steve Van Doorn

Indeed he does, as he should.


41 posted on 01/18/2020 3:22:23 AM PST by nuconvert ( Warning: Accused of being a radical militarist. Approach with caution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: LeoWindhorse

The Arizona was my grandpa’s ship in the mid to late 1920s, worked down in the engine room. By the time Pearl Harbor was attacked he was working as a crane operator in a factory that made tanks.


42 posted on 01/18/2020 3:23:36 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: qwerty1234; Concentrate
We cut off their oil, so they attacked us.Had we left them alone, they would have civilized China/Asia for us. Talk about stupid.

There was nothing civilized about the Japanese at that time - they were just as bad, if not worse, than the Nazis.

Querty is correct, Japan had overtly invaded China behind a fig leaf even smaller than the one Hitler used to justify his invasion of Poland. The Japanese considered China, then in the midst of civil war, weak and ripe for the plucking. Once they invaded, their behavior was as bad or as worse as the German-Soviet war in the Eastern Front.

The Rape of Nanking was both a literal rape of Chinese women and the figurative rape of the city. Japan was not out to civilize barbarians, it was out to seize and exploit another country. Japan killed between 10-20 million Chinese either directly or through war induced famine.

The Chinese civil war by contrast only killed about 6-10 million. The only greater catastrophe for China than the Japanese invasion was the "Great Leap Forward" where Chairman Mao managed to kill 18-45 million people through sheer economic incompetence.

43 posted on 01/18/2020 3:28:47 AM PST by drop 50 and fire for effect ("Work relentlessly, accomplish much, remain in the background, and be more than you seem.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Concentrate

If by civilized you mean murder millions of innocent people than your right. The only reason the Japanese of World War 2 aren’t thought of as mass murdering villains is because the Nazis industrialized their mass murder.


44 posted on 01/18/2020 3:32:21 AM PST by OIFVeteran
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: drop 50 and fire for effect
>>Querty is correct
Thank you. I get tired of the folks who dismiss the bombing of Pearl Harbor' as a 'well we deserved it because we cut of their oil argument...something I would expect on DU, not here.

Lots of books on the subject, but here is one if you need to convince yourself that war against the Japanese was both justified and inevitable, including using atomic weapons; I only wish we had them, and used them sooner.


45 posted on 01/18/2020 3:36:51 AM PST by qwerty1234
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Concentrate

The idea that the Japanese as they were under Tojo and the Emperor could have civilized anything is pretty absurd. Go read up on the Rape of Nanking for starters.


46 posted on 01/18/2020 3:44:44 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: qwerty1234

Anyone paying attention knew that Japan was heading toward war with the west. They saw the European powers as weakened by Germany’s war on Europe. We had started rearming and were rapidly working to improve and reinforce defenses across the Pacific.

What surprised us was the time, place, and manner of the attack. U.S analysts thought it would be later and focused upon a concentrated attack south. The Pearl Harbor strike was unexpected, even though there were all kinds of indicator that were much clearer in retrospect. Everyone had pieces of info, but no one drew the right conclusions.


47 posted on 01/18/2020 3:52:27 AM PST by drop 50 and fire for effect ("Work relentlessly, accomplish much, remain in the background, and be more than you seem.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: LeoWindhorse

This guy was a mess attendant, or in my words a cook.

With little to no combat skills, he took it upon himself to man a machine gun. Now that does take guts. Was he a hero? Most certainly yes.

However, how many other cooks, clerks and non-combatant types took to the task of operating heavy guns against the Japs on that day? With regards to other wars, the same question applies. Should these cooks and clerks get medals, ships named after them and other awards simply because they went outside their MOS? Because they fired along side their grunt buddies, doing the same thing, the cook and clerk get recognition, the grunt just gets shot at the next time?

If you join (or drafted), you are there to fight, no matter what your MOS is.


48 posted on 01/18/2020 4:00:10 AM PST by redfreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LeoWindhorse

Michael Bay in his movie “Pearl Harbor” featured Doris Miller’s story. One of the highlights of the movie.


49 posted on 01/18/2020 4:10:50 AM PST by C19fan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DeFault User
“ Heroic actions by sailor Miller. But life must have been tough for a man named Doris.....” *** Shades of A Boy Named Sue: Johnny Cash 😏...
50 posted on 01/18/2020 4:15:59 AM PST by snoringbear (,W,E.oGovernment is the Pimp,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: LeoWindhorse
I am betting a Wasp Class assault carrier

They're building the America class now. According to the navy.mil website, LHA-9 is planned but not yet named. I suspect that will become the USS Miller come Monday.

51 posted on 01/18/2020 4:16:48 AM PST by DoodleDawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: LeoWindhorse

My mother was 26 and had one or two of her girlfriends spending the night, on the other side of Diamond Head from Pearl. They heard the bombs going off but thought nothing of it because they heard bomb training regularly. Then they heard neighbors, talking excitedly, coming over. The radio came on, then she and her friends went to the living room. She was on the next ship out because the prospect of invasion was not remote.


52 posted on 01/18/2020 4:45:39 AM PST by Theophilous Meatyard III
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LeoWindhorse

Is this the man Cuba Gooding Jr portrayed in the movie, Pearl Harbor?


53 posted on 01/18/2020 4:49:15 AM PST by Guenevere (Press On!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Vision

At first I thought you were joking, or sarcasm....

....Seriously?....are you serious?


54 posted on 01/18/2020 4:55:08 AM PST by Guenevere (Press On!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Secret Agent Man

55 posted on 01/18/2020 5:04:07 AM PST by xp38
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: LeoWindhorse

..a man eating lunch one floor below where Oswald was in Dallas was named Bonnie Ray. I had a distant cousin who was all man, was named Joyce. Names are just names...


56 posted on 01/18/2020 5:04:44 AM PST by WalterSkinner (In Memory of My Father, WWII Vet 2007 , and Mom, the Best Mother Ever 2019)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Concentrate

You must have never heard of Nanking

They were the ties worse than the Nazis

They would and could not civilize anybody


57 posted on 01/18/2020 5:10:12 AM PST by panzerkamphwageneinz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Concentrate

now days, you support our Iranian enemy by opposing the sanctions that are certain to result to an Iranian Pearl Harbor attack


58 posted on 01/18/2020 5:12:52 AM PST by bert ( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) Progressives are existential American enemies)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: redfreedom

For every combat award, there are many other warriors who did as much or more than the awardee. Acts of heroism and sacrifice may be relatively common, but they should not be considered commonplace. Recognizing valor in one man, does not disparage any other.

During WWII, it was common to pull “heroes” out for PR duty. Do you think many. Can you imagine ow hard that would have been for most?


59 posted on 01/18/2020 5:22:41 AM PST by antidisestablishment
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: qwerty1234
In July 2016, US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus advised Congress that he intended to name the second ship of the Military Sealift Command's John Lewis-class oilers, USNS Harvey Milk.

It is the first U.S. Navy ship named for an openly gay leader.[5] The first cut of steel occurred on 13 December 2019, marking the beginning of construction of the vessel.

60 posted on 01/18/2020 5:34:08 AM PST by TangoLimaSierra (To the Left, The Truth is Right Wing Extremism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-82 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson