Dorie Miller Drive
Image Credit:
Top image: Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
Doris "Dorie" Miller (1919–1943) was the first African American to receive the Navy Cross—the U.S. Navy's highest medal of valor. Miller served in the Navy as a cook aboard the battleship West Virginia and, during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he acted heroically to save several soldiers and shoot down several enemy planes using an anti-aircraft machine gun, despite having no training using the weapon. Miller did not have direct ties to Champaign County, but his acts of courage earned him admiration from throughout the nation, and a street in northeastern Champaign was named in his honor.
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