I was born as a Navy Brat. One of the nearly sacred stories was Midway – when six months after Pearl Harbor, naval aviators from three US carriers and Marine aviators from the island changed the Pacific war from defeat to victory. After June 6, most of the Japanese pilots who had hit Pearl Harbor had no place to land after Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu were sank by US Navy bombers.
It wasn’t a fair fight. The Japanese pilots were highly experienced, an elite. The 57 Marine aviators who flew on June 4 included 37 second lieutenants – and 17 of those were fresh from flight school. Marine Air Group 22 went in with a lot of inexperienced pilots and obsolete planes – and despite their heavy losses, the Midway Marines – with aviation and gunnery – took out a large part of Hiryu’s bombers.
A bridge that crosses the Missouri River, connecting Pierre and Fort Pierre is named after Lieutenant Commander John Waldron – who led Torpedo Squadron 8 in, low and slow, at the Japanese fleet. Torpedo 8 had a single survivor – but the Zeroes were at sea level when McClusky’s three squadrons of dive bombers arrived. When those SBD’s flew back to their carriers, the war had moved into the beginning of the end. Kaga, Soryu and Akagi were on fire – and by the next morning those 3 carriers sank. Hiryu remained – but the Marines had taken out most of Hiryu’s bombers. It wasn’t elegant – but 360 American aircraft put the US on the path to victory in World War II. 150 of those planes were destroyed, with 307 airmen killed in action. Japan lost 4 carriers and 248 aircraft. The war had changed.
So few American pilots turned the war around. Nearly half died in the battle. And Dad would occasionally point out an officer with the comment, “He flew at Midway.”
Leave a Reply