I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1252 

To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Doris Miller, in 

recognition of his acts of valor while a member of the United States 

Navy during World War II. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 

Mr. MFUME (for himself, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CARSON, Mr. 

JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. TITUS, 

Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in 

addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Doris 

Miller, in recognition of his acts of valor while a member 

of the United States Navy during World War II. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Doris Miller Congres5 sional Gold Medal Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Doris Miller, like other African-American 

4 sailors of his day, was generally relegated to service5 based roles on ships, as the Navy did not allow sail6 ors of color to enlist in combat roles. 

7 (2) On December 7, 1941, Doris Miller was 

8 serving aboard the USS West Virginia in Hawaii 

9 when Japanese torpedo bombers attacked his ship 

10 and others at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base—head11 quarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. During this infa12 mous attack, Doris Miller manned a gun magazine 

13 amidships. When a torpedo damaged the magazine, 

14 Doris Miller helped carry the wounded to safety, in15 cluding his ship’s commander, Captain Mervyn S. 

16 Bennion. Doris Miller then manned a .50 caliber 

17 antiaircraft gun, for which he had no training, and 

18 continued firing on the enemy until he ran out of 

19 ammunition and received the order to abandon ship. 

20 (3) Doris Miller was acknowledged in the USS 

21 West Virginia Action Report, individually, along 

22 with other brave personnel for having ‘‘carried out 

23 every order promptly and enthusiastically, even when 

24 it meant danger to themselves. They did not attempt 

25 to abandon the bridge until ordered to do so.’’. 


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1 (4) Doris Miller aided other service members 

2 and ‘‘was instrumental in hauling people along 

3 through oil and water to the quarterdeck, thereby 

4 unquestionably saving the lives of a number of peo5 ple who might otherwise have been lost.’’. 

6 (5) On December 15, 1941, the Navy released 

7 its commendations for actions in Pearl Harbor 

8 which included one ‘‘unnamed Negro’’. It wasn’t 

9 until March of 1942, at the behest of the NAACP, 

10 that the Navy formally recognized Miller’s heroism. 

11 (6) Doris Miller was recognized by the Navy 

12 and awarded the Navy Cross Medal with the citation 

13 reading ‘‘For distinguished devotion to duty, ex14 traordinary courage and disregard for his own per15 sonal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl 

16 Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by Japanese forces on 

17 December 7, 1941. While at the side of his Captain 

18 on the bridge, Miller, despite enemy strafing and 

19 bombing and in the face of a serious fire, assisted 

20 in moving his Captain, who had been mortally 

21 wounded, to a place of greater safety, and later 

22 manned and operated a machine gun directed at 

23 enemy Japanese attacking aircraft until ordered to 

24 leave the bridge.’’. 


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1 (7) On May 27, 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz 

2 personally pinned the Navy Cross to Miller’s left 

3 breast pocket while on board the aircraft carrier 

4 USS Enterprise. 

5 (8) Doris Miller died in action on November 24, 

6 1943, on board the USS Liscome Bay in the Pacific 

7 Ocean after a single Japanese torpedo sank the ves8 sel off the coast of Butaritari Island. 

9 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

10 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

11 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem12 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

13 for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, 

14 of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration 

15 of Doris Miller, in recognition of his acts of valor while 

16 a member of the Navy during World War II. 

17 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 

18 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

19 of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 

20 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable em21 blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 

22 Secretary. 

23 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 

25 gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 


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1 shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 

2 it shall be available for display as appropriate and 

3 made available for research. 

4 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

5 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution shall 

6 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 

7 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 

8 appropriate locations associated with Doris Miller. 

9 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

10 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

11 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 

12 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

13 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 

14 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

15 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu16 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

17 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

18 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 

19 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

20 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 

Æ 


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