You Are There… Graphic History Series.
Historical Backdrop
Our subject is Doris “Dorie” Miller, a 22-year-old Black sailor from Waco, Texas, the son of sharecroppers. In the segregated U.S. Navy of 1941, Black men could only serve as Mess Attendants — cooks, stewards, and laundrymen. They were forbidden from training on weapons or holding combat roles. Miller was a big man, around six-foot-three and 225 pounds, the heavyweight boxing champion of the battleship USS West Virginia. On the morning of December 7, 1941, he was assigned to laundry duty.
December 7, 1941 — 6:00 AM — Berthing Compartment, USS West Virginia, Battleship Row, Pearl Harbor, Oahu
You roll out of your bunk in the dim light of the crew berthing compartment. The air smells like sweat, machine oil, and stale coffee from the galley above. You pull on your white mess attendant uniform and lace up your black work shoes. Around you, white sailors stir in their racks, some still snoring. You start your Sunday routine — collecting officers’ laundry — quietly so you don’t wake them.
December 7, 1941 — 6:45 AM — Laundry Compartment, Below Deck, USS West Virginia
You haul a canvas sack of dirty officers’ shirts down the ladder to the laundry. Your big hands sort whites from khakis. Steam hisses from the press. You hum a low gospel tune your mother taught you back in Waco. The ship is quiet — Sunday morning at anchor, with most sailors sleeping in or eating breakfast. You think about the letter you wrote home yesterday.
December 7, 1941 — 7:57 AM — Main Deck, USS West Virginia, Battleship Row
A boom shakes the ship. Then another. You drop the laundry and run topside. The general quarters alarm screams through the steel passages. When you reach the deck, you see them — Japanese planes with red suns on their wings, low and loud, almost close enough to touch. Tracer fire arcs into the morning sky. The Arizona is moored just behind you. Your ears ring. You smell aviation fuel and burning paint.
December 7, 1941 — 8:05 AM — Amidships Antiaircraft Battery, USS West Virginia
