Honoring hero of Pearl Harbor 'Dorie Miller'

At long last, an American hero who earned a place in the hearts of many West Virginians is being honored permanently in our state. He is the late Doris 'Dorie' Miller...

TheGrio Staff

Dec 7, 2011

From The Intelligence Wheeling News-Register:

At long last, an American hero who earned a place in the hearts of many West Virginians is being honored permanently in our state. He is the late Doris “Dorie” Miller, and, though he was born in Texas, it is fitting for Mountain State residents to remember him.

Today is the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, in which the battleship USS West Virginia was sunk. The battlewagon later was raised and returned to duty.

A place of honor at West Virginia University’s Morgantown campus is reserved for the West Virginia’s mast, recovered when the craft was scrapped in 1959. It towers over Oglebay Plaza and overlooks a plaque on which the names of the 106 sailors who died on the West Virginia at Pearl Harbor are engraved.

There were many heroes aboard the West Virginia and elsewhere in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. But Miller is especially significant in a way.

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