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 ...
A lot of people fired back at the Japanese. Someone happened to take a picture of Doris fighting back and now we have our newest hero of the lunatic left.
The Japanese had been gunning for us for some time because they had an enormous chip on their shoulder since forever because they felt they weren’t viewed as an equal, exacerbated by the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty in which the USA and Britain were allowed five ships to every three the Japanese were allowed to have.
That really burned them.
Their war games and plans were based on the US as an adversary, and to a large degree (but perhaps with not as much conviction) ours were based on them.
Exactly. Sometimes we need to deter from tradition of naming our battle ships to honor those who went above and beyond for their country.
There is a movie about first black diver, Cuba Gooding stars in it. It was very informative. He went thru hell and back to finally get that honor. Robert Deniro is also in the movie. It’s called Men of Honor.
I’m looking at it from a grunts perspective. My brother was a grunt, or 11B Infantryman. He went through hard times in Vietnam. He did not come back with any significant medals. Instead he came back with PTSD and eventually died of Agent Orange diseases.
It’s my personal opinion that if all a typical noncombatant does is do what the grunt does, and gets special recognition, it’s really wrong.
Now if a typical noncombatant goes above and beyond in the same order Audie Murphy did, then that person deserves the recognition of performing deeds that are indeed above and beyond the call of duty.
When I was enlisted in a support MOS, we all understood our secondary MOS was 11B. In other words, when we were hit, we all responded by going to the perimeter to do what had to be done. No one got special awards for going to the perimeter to get shot at or to shoot at others. This is what this WWII Navy guy did, in essence he went to the “perimeter” and did his part as expected.
Unit 731 was responsible for probably the worst atrocities of the war, exceeding even the worst of the Nazi crimes.
I think they’re being sarcastic.
Carrying the first name of “Doris” in the Navy as a black man in the ‘40s. I’d have figured he was one tough man even without the heroic acts during a battle.
>>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?
John Basilone, medal of honor recipient for actions on GuadalCanal comes to mind, pulled from combat to help sell war bonds back in the USA to help the war effort...finally asked to go back to combat, and was sadly killed on Iwo Jima.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Basilone
Probably not. You’re judging things by today’s predatory culture.
Those are our ships now Jeff
The same way they “civilized” Nanking?
I would name a Wasp class ship after him. The big CVA’s need to revert away from President names and back to old ships if the line like Enterprise, Ranger, Hornet, Independence, Constellation, Saratoga, Lexington, Yorktown, etc...
Clinton Inaugural reference.
I agree 100%. But, I would rather our newest most badass CVN be named after SN/2c Joe Schmuckatelli, who cleaned heads on an old 4 stacker on the Murmansk run, than some ratbag politician.
Yes, the Navy occasionally breaks with naming conventions, but more commonly it’s to reuse a name with significant naval heritage, like Wasp, Enterprise, Hornet, Saratoga, etc, or a historic naval figure, battle, or President. But sometimes they break tradition for political purposes, and this falls into that category. It would have been much more appropriate to name a new Destroyer for him. Even then, comparing Miller’s story to the other heroes that have ships named for them, his is at the very lowest end of the scale even when compared to those who “only” received the Navy Cross (the award Miller actually received). His MOH was more about politics and civil rights than his demonstrated heroism on Dec 7th 1941. The same is true about this ship naming.
Agreed. I wanna puke every time I see or hear the name USS John P Murtha.
“Had we left them alone, they would have civilized China/Asia for us”
Sure; like Stalin “civilized” the Kulaks.
Yep
Was it a political decision to name the bird-farm after Miller. Yes, it most certainly was. I’m not going to be really happy until they name a supercarrier “USS Ernest Evans”. Or, name it after a battleship that struck terror into the hearts of Americas enemies. “USS Samuel B. Roberts”. Being a bubblehead, the “USS Mush Morton” would be a pretty sweet thing too. All that being said, was this a BAD political decision? I really don’t feel that it this is so. Dorie was a Bluejacket, just like you and me. In the end, he made that sacrifice that we were willing, but never called on to make. There may have been better choices in the long run, but this Squid is going to sleep tonight with a smile on his face.
Agreed. Like I said above, I wanna puke every time I see Murtha’s name on a ship, and there are other examples that are almost as bad. Just saying, Arleigh Burke Destroyers are named after people, mostly heroes like Dorie. But yeah, I’d much rather see a CVN with Miller’s name on it than some undeserving politician.
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.