Lieutenant Frederic H. White had ordered Miller to help him and Ensign Victor Delano load the unmanned number 1 and number 2 Browning .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns aft of the conning tower. Miller was not familiar with the weapon, but White and Delano instructed him on how to operate it. Delano expected Miller to feed ammunition to one machine gun, but his attention was diverted and, when he looked again, Miller was firing one of the machine guns. White then loaded ammunition into both machine guns and assigned Miller the starboard machine gun.

Miller received the Navy Cross from Admiral Chester Nimitz on May 27, 1942, but many sailors and naval officers believed that Miller's heroism deserved a Medal of Honor. Miller was nominated for a Medal of Honor by a congressman from Michigan and a senator from New York, and the black press enthusiastically campaigned for Miller to receive this decoration. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, who opposed black sailors serving the United States in any combat role, recommended against Miller receiving the Medal of Honor.[6] No black sailor, soldier, or Marine was awarded the Medal of Honor between 1941 and 1945, and in 1996 Vernon J. Baker was the only black veteran of World War II to be awarded the decoration while still alive.

Miller's carrier took part in the Battle of Makin (invasion of Makin by units of the Army's 165th Regimental Combat Team, 27th Infantry Division) which had begun on November 20.[32] On November 24, the day after Makin was captured by American soldiers and the eve of Thanksgiving (the cooks had broken out the frozen turkeys from Pearl Harbor),[31] Liscome Bay was cruising near Butaritari (Makin Atoll's main island) when it was struck just before dawn in the stern by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-175 (which fired four torpedoes at Task Group 5312). The carrier's own torpedoes and aircraft bombs exploded, causing the ship to sink in 23 minutes.There were 272 survivors from the crew of over 900, but Miller was among the two-thirds of the crew listed as "presumed dead". His parents were informed that he was missing in action on December 7, 1943. Liscome Bay was the only ship lost in the Gilbert Islands operation.