Description
The Above and Beyond the Call of Duty poster
Above and Beyond the Call of Duty was painted by David Stone Martin and issued in 1943 by the Office of War Information as OWI Poster No. 68, printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office. It is a portrait of Doris “Dorie” Miller, a Navy mess attendant from Waco, Texas, in his white cap and jumper with the Navy Cross pinned to his chest. Behind him, battleships burn at Pearl Harbor. The caption reads: Dorie Miller received the Navy Cross at Pearl Harbor, May 27, 1942.
On 7 December 1941 Miller was serving aboard USS West Virginia. He carried wounded men to safety, including his mortally wounded captain, then took over an unmanned anti-aircraft machine gun he had never been trained to use and fired it until he was ordered to leave the ship. On 27 May 1942 Admiral Chester Nimitz pinned the Navy Cross on him. He was the first Black American to receive it. The government made him the face of this poster the next year; he was killed in November 1943 when the escort carrier Liscome Bay was torpedoed.
David Stone Martin (1913–1992) was an art director at the Office of War Information. After the war he became famous for his hand-drawn jazz record covers for Norman Granz’s labels. Copies of the poster are held by the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
Read the full history of the poster.
Restored edition
Restored from a photograph of an original 1943 print. The fold lines, creases, stains and wear were removed and the blue sky, white uniform and skin tones brought back, while the lettering and the artist’s signature are kept from the original. Drag the before and after slider below to compare.
Sizes and options
- Paper print: 11.7 × 16.5 in, 20 × 28 in or 23.4 × 33.1 in
- Framed print: 12 × 17 in, 20 × 28 in or 23 × 33 in, in a black, white or natural wood frame, ready to hang
Printed to order in the USA on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Art paper. Free Standard shipping to the US. Compare the print sizes.
More posters
See Remember Dec. 7th!, or browse the Navy collection.













