Today, we reflect on the attack at Pearl Harbor, and a small park in Lewisburg dedicated to a hero

By Autumn Shelton, RealWV

LEWISBURG, W.Va. – It has been 83 years since the Japanese attack on the American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, which killed over 2,400 people, damaged numerous ships and aircraft, and sunk four battleships, including the USS West Virginia. In the decades since the attack, many stories of heroism from that day have emerged. Locally, one of the stories that is often retold is that of Doris “Dorie” Miller.

Miller’s story is so iconic that a park in the city of Lewisburg was dedicated in his honor, even though he most likely never set foot in downtown Lewisburg. 

Doris “Dorie” Miller

According to Miller’s naval profile, found on “Naval History and Heritage Command,” he left his home in Waco, Texas, to enlist in the U.S. Navy as a Mess Attendant, Third Class – one of the few positions available to a Black American at the time.

After his military training in Norfolk, Virginia, Miller was eventually stationed on the USS West Virginia, where he first received notoriety as the ship’s heavyweight boxing champion. 

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Miller began his day’s duty, collecting laundry, but just before 8 a.m. an alarm was sounded. The naval base was under attack. 

Miller immediately went to his battle station, an “anti-aircraft battery magazine amidship,” but discovered that it had sustained damage, as reported in his naval profile. He then went on deck to help his fellow sailors, including a captain, make it to safer locations before he manned a 50-caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun, which he had never been trained how to use. 

Miller’s naval biography later quotes him as saying: “”It wasn’t hard. I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I guess I fired her for about fifteen minutes. I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us.”

Eventually, the USS West Virginia sustained such heavy damage that it began to sink to the bottom of the harbor, and Miller was forced to abandon ship. 

Although those on the USS West Virginia told the story about the heroic actions by Miller, his name was not known to the greater world — yet.

Through the work of journalists with the Pittsburgh Courier, an influential Black newspaper, Miller was eventually identified as the hero who helped take down Japanese aircraft and assist his fellow sailors.

On March 14, 1942, the Pittsburgh Courier’s headline read “Messman Hero Identified.” 

“Add the name of Dorie Miller, 22-year-old mess attendant, in the United States Navy, to the illustrious “honor roll” of Negro fighting heroes, who have inscribed their names in the red ink of raw courage . . .,” the articles states. “No longer is his name unknown.” 

Just two months later, in May 1942, Miller became the first Black sailor to be honored with the Navy Cross – the second highest military decoration that may be awarded to those in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marines. Only the Medal of Honor is a higher decoration. 

Miller received his Navy Cross from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz on the deck of the USS Enterprise.

Unfortunately, the following year, Miller was killed in action while aboard the aircraft carrier Liscome Bay when it was struck by a torpedo and sank in the Pacific Ocean, according to his naval profile. 

Lewisburg’s Dorie Miller Park

Although Miller had no connections to Greenbrier County, a piece of property along Feamster Road, behind the former African-American Bolling School, was slated to become a recreational area for Black citizens in the early 1940s – during segregation. 

According to an article written by William “Skip” Deegans and published in the Mountain Messenger in April 2022, the principal of Bolling High and Elementary School, Earl Clay, in 1945, asked the Lewisburg Parks Commission to change the name of the recreational area from the “Lewisburg Colored Recreational Center” to the “Dorie Miller Recreational Center,” in Miller’s honor.

Today, the park is known as Dorie Miller Park, and it has received numerous upgrades over the years. It is a place where children can play and families can gather. Due to its namesake, it also gives us all the chance to reflect on the sacrifices made at Pearl Harbor, and one of the heroes who helped save us. 

To learn more about Dorie Miller: