Dorie Miller is known as the first American hero of World War II. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it was Miller, a messman on the USS Arizona, who took charge. Due to the segregated nature of navy training, Miller had no previous shooting practice, but that didn’t stop him from rising from the ship’s galley during the attack, taking charge of an antiaircraft gun, and shooting down four Japanese planes before the ship sunk.

Despite his heroism, Miller was awarded the Navy Cross but not the right to train as a gunner. Miller died later in World War II while serving as a messman on the Liscome Bay, an aircraft carrier that was also attacked by the Japanese military.