79R3661 AMY-D

By:  Giddings                                                     H.R. No. 106


R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, World War II hero Doris "Dorie" Miller exhibited extraordinary courage on the USS West Virginia during the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, and his bravery has not received the full honors and recognition that it merits; and WHEREAS, A native Texan, Dorie Miller was born in Waco on October 12, 1919, and enlisted in the United States Navy on September 16, 1939; and WHEREAS, In the opening hours of America's entry into the war, the 22-year-old assisted fellow sailors and his wounded captain out of the line of fire to shelter; he then manned a machine gun on which he had not been trained, seizing both the initiative and the offense at a moment of critical national peril, and fired at the Japanese planes until the crew was ordered to abandon the ship; and WHEREAS, For heroism on the USS West Virginia, Admiral Chester Nimitz bestowed upon Dorie Miller the Navy Cross, the United States Navy's highest honor, during a ceremony on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor on May 27, 1942; Dorie Miller was the first African American to receive that award; and WHEREAS, Dorie Miller was serving on the USS Liscome Bay, an escort carrier, on November 24, 1943, when his ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine in an attack which cost the lives of 646 men; Dorie Miller was officially presumed dead a year and a day after the carrier went down; and WHEREAS, Besides the Navy Cross, he was entitled to the Purple Heart, the American Defense Service Medal--Fleet Clasp, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal and in 1973, the United States further recognized his military contributions by naming a frigate, the USS Miller, after him; and WHEREAS, His actions on the USS West Virginia and his valiant service to his country during World War II warrant the highest honor that a member of the United States Armed Forces can receive, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and justify also a special philatelic commemoration that will endear this man of courage and selflessness to his fellow citizens and confer their utmost respect and gratitude; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas Legislature hereby respectfully request the Congress of the United States of America to posthumously bestow upon Doris "Dorie" Miller the Congressional Medal of Honor; and, be it further RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas Legislature hereby respectfully request the U.S. Postal Service and the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring Doris "Dorie" Miller as part of their Black Heritage series and that the Texas delegation to the congress--as well as the Congressional Black Caucus--be hereby reverentially asked to join the effort to attain issuance of such a postage stamp; and, be it further RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the Texas House of Representatives forward official copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the postmaster general, to the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate of the United States Congress, to all the members of the Texas delegation to the congress, and to all members of the Congressional Black Caucus, with the added request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.