Navy officials are weighing whether to strip the\u00a0name of one of World War II’s most famed Black service members from a new aircraft carrier and instead possibly name the ship for President Donald Trump, according to three sources familiar with the matter, a move that would mark the unprecedented naming of a Navy vessel for a sitting president.<\/p>\n
The carrier, which remains under construction in Virginia, was christened in name during Trump\u2019s first administration,\u00a0when the Navy announced the Ford-class ship would become the USS Doris Miller, honoring Miller’s heroic actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor, during a ceremony on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2020.<\/p>\n
![\"Captain\"](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/f0faa741-2321-4e47-b57a-ab1ba9b4ba02\/USS-Doris-Miller-3-ht-gmh-260821_1787321590587_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"Captain\\"")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>Family members of World War II hero Doris “Dorie” Miller react after the unveiling of the new Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller at a Martin Luther King Day celebration event on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Jan. 20, 2020.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Specialist 2nd Class Alexander C. Kubitza\/US Navy<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n During the 1941 attack, Miller, serving as a cook aboard the USS West Virginia, helped move the ship\u2019s mortally wounded captain to safety before taking control of an anti-aircraft gun, despite having no formal training on the weapon. He was credited with shooting down at least one Japanese aircraft — a notable feat during an attack in which only 29 of roughly 350 Japanese planes were brought down.\u00a0<\/p>\n Miller was awarded the Navy Cross, the service\u2019s second-highest decoration for combat heroism, behind only the Medal of Honor.\u00a0The recognition was particularly significant at a time when the military was still racially segregated and Black troops were not always fully recognized for their service.<\/p>\n “Miller, despite enemy strafing and bombing and in the face of a serious fire, assisted in moving his captain, who had been mortally wounded, to a place of greater safety, and later manned and operated a machine gun directed at enemy Japanese attacking aircraft until ordered to leave the bridge,” his award citation reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n Miller died less than two years later, in November 1943, when a Japanese submarine torpedoed the USS Liscome Bay during the Battle of Makin, killing 700 sailors.<\/p>\n The USS Doris Miller would be the first aircraft carrier named for a Black American and the first to honor an enlisted service member.\u00a0It would also be the second Navy ship to carry Miller’s name. A destroyer named for him entered the fleet in 1972 and was decommissioned in 1991.<\/p>\n Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas B. Modly poses for a group photo with the Miller family after the unveiling of the new Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller at a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day event on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Jan. 20, 2020.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly Crawford\/US Navy<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n CNN first reported that the Navy was considering changing the carrier\u2019s name. The White House referred questions from ABC News to the Pentagon, which did not respond to a request for comment. A Navy spokesperson said in a statement that the sea service “has no announcement to share at this time.”<\/p>\n Three sources familiar said that the discussions about renaming the aircraft carrier have been going on most of the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Miller is under strong consideration to have his Navy Cross upgraded to the Medal of Honor, the nation\u2019s highest recognition\u00a0for combat valor, according to the three sources familiar with the discussions. One of the sources said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently sent a memo to Congress recommending Miller receive the Medal of Honor.<\/p>\n Doris “Dorie” Miller enlisted in the U.S. Navy in September 1939 as a Mess Attendant and helped carry wounded sailors to safety during the attack on Pearl Harbor.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Willie C. P. Kendrick III\/US Navy<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Aircraft carriers are\u00a0mostly\u00a0named for presidents, while Medal of Honor recipients are more commonly honored with destroyers, smaller but heavily armed warships built to protect larger vessels and directly engage enemy threats. One source familiar said the service is seeking to name a different ship after Miller.<\/p>\n However, there are exceptions. The USS Carl Vinson, for example, was named for the longtime Democratic congressman from Georgia who became one of the most influential lawmakers on naval affairs.<\/p>\n Renaming a commissioned or planned Navy vessel is relatively uncommon. One of the most prominent recent examples came when the service removed Confederate names from ships as part of a congressionally mandated effort to purge Confederate namesakes from across the Defense Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n More recently, Hegseth last year ordered the Navy to rename a ship honoring Harvey Milk, the Navy veteran and gay rights activist.<\/p>\n Thomas Bledsoe, Miller’s great-nephew and the official spokesperson for the family, told ABC News in a phone interview on Friday morning that talk about stripping Miller\u2019s name from the Navy ship “comes as a shock” to the family.<\/p>\n “Learning of this possibility of the name change comes as a shock to not only myself but my family as well, and we are hoping that this doesn’t come to fruition. However, we did hear that in addition to the name change, they may name a different carrier after him,” Bledsoe said.<\/p>\n “We are hoping that if it is renamed, there still is the opportunity for another carrier to be named after Doris Miller, as both would be an honor and something that we would take with great pride either way,” he added.<\/p>\n But Bledsoe added that the “best outcome” would be not to rename the ship.<\/p>\n “The best outcome would be not to rename it,\u00a0so that way the generation currently that is in the 60s and 70s would be able to see it actually launch under the Doris Miller’s name,” he said. “It would come at a disappointment if there isn’t — if the name has changed currently, and it would definitely a disappointment that there is no other ship that would be named after him.”<\/p>\n At a White House event in February 2020, Trump, while referencing the Navy\u2019s decision to name the carrier for Miller, appeared to lament that no aircraft carrier had been named for him and suggested that perhaps one eventually would be.<\/p>\n “They won\u2019t give me that honor,” Trump said. “That\u2019s a big ship \u2026 one day, maybe. But then, in the meantime \u2026 aircraft carrier \u2026 doesn\u2019t get bigger than that.”<\/p>\n President Trump’s name has appeared on several things since taking office in his second term.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to rename<\/a> the Palm Beach International Airport the President Donald J. Trump International Airport. Late last year, the State Department changed the name<\/a> of the U.S. Institute of Peace to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.<\/p>\n Also, there is an ongoing legal dispute<\/a> about Trump’s name appearing on the Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n![\"PHOTO:](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/6a0e1de1-0927-4069-8921-c120b0b2d449\/USS-Doris-Miller-1-ht-gmh-260821_1787321589793_hpMain.jpg?w=375)
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