My grandfather, another Norman, was on the Yorktown then too.

if there is good,,,it was created by a god who is/was/always good,,,those boys are reunited with moms dads lil sises the bros at home,and maybe the dawg too

Lost a cousin at Coral sea on Yorktown, half buried at sea, half at the Punch bowl, some I'm sure still aboard. rip cuz.

I know what you mean...have one uncle, paratrooper in the battle of the bulge and another now passed that was a ball turret gunner. Amazing men.

Thanks for sharing that story!

Visiting historic sites like Midway, Gettysburg, the Normandy beaches, and heaven knows how many other places, for me has always been humbling. Nice story. Thanks for sharing. USN '82-'88

Thank goodness

My WWII era cargo ship, converted into a training ship, was crossing the Pacific in JAN/FEB '90. We received permission to leave the shipping lanes & alter our route to enter into a normally forbidden area to approach within a certain distance to see an island on the horizon. I had the same impression as you. Wake Island was barely visible above the waves. We were also told that it had occasionally been evacuated in certain storm conditions, because it would become completely submerged by storm surge. My Fall 1988 Naval Science class report had been on The Battle of Midway Islands, so all of the details were still fresh in my mind. My immediate thoughts went to those who had been on those islands, in the air, and on the sea during the battle that permanently protected the Hawaiian Islands and the West Coast. Except for incendiary balloons, and a submarine sighting in PNW, the Japanese never tried to attack there again. So many lives were lost to give that protection. I also am grateful for shipyard workers, and onboard damage control teams, that worked miracles on the vessels. I looked at what was essentially a big rock, far away from everything else, that made all of the difference. BTW, same transit, a sub fired a flare to let us know that we had just been torpedoed in a war game. My grandfather, in the Navy in WWII, had ended up in the water a couple of times, so I felt that. Kudos to whoever was on that sub. Edit: Grandpa was gone by the time that I was taking these Pacific trips. Our ship was revisiting some of her WWII ports. I had asked Grandma if I was going to any of the places that he had been. She said that he had been Atlantic & Mediterranean. He was being trained for the Pacific when the bombs were dropped. He went home instead, to have my Dad & Aunt.

@@oldgoat142 I spent 3 years in Okinawa and never forgot, as I walked the island, that every step I took took me over a spot where someone had died in combat. Very humbling...

@@elizabethbottroff1218 Beautiful story. I deeply appreciate you sharing this with me. It seems to me that this is a very treasured memory, as it should be. Thank you.

His name please

Old man here. My dad served in the army in Europe during WW II. So proud of the greatest generation. Real brave men !

@@georgeforgerty2875 Ens. Daniel W Koster, flew with McClusky. Promoted in Feb 1942 and was part of Task Force 6.

This is history...

My uncle Bob Neely was a Pacific carrier fighter pilot in WW2. Never got the details but I remember him saying how incredibly small an aircraft carrier was from above.

Had more than one Nam vet tell of the incredible welcome they got there on R&R

Thank you. We also remember and honor the many brave “Diggers” who fell along the Kakoda Trail defending our freedom and allowing the following generations to live in peace.

Don't forget your own men and women... the coast watchers whose intel made so many victories possible.

Yes. The cream of the Australian army was still fighting in North Africa so Australia did need a little help in defending their country.

I got to serve with the Australian Army in 2007 at COB Adder in Talil, Iraq. Wonderful folks they were

I'm a little older, in the 60's I wanted to get into the submarine service, they told me I needed glasses, so I went to the surface fleet. This battle has fascinated me since I was a kid also, that and the fact that my Dad was at Pearl Harbor, made me want to join instead of protesting war like others of my generation.

@DrakenViggen You're absolutely right, the 3rd carrier was the Hornet, not the Lexington. I amended the original comment with the correction. Thanks!

+{UCrdaGHRbDBNhYC5QiVpTbFA} *USS Yorktown (CV-5) earned a posthumous Battle Star at Midway.*

The Yorktown is a great visit, I've been 3 times and might have to go again.

@DrakenViggen Correct! CV-10 was also named Yorktown in honor of the sacrifice made by CV-5. Speaking of museums, CV-5 is sitting relatively intact at the bottom of the Pacific, though it would be impractical to visit at it is 5 Km below the surface.

@DrakenViggen Thanks for the correction!

I was privileged to be invited to Naval War College for the 75th anniversary of the B of M celebration. I ran into a gent who was Spruance's Flag Sec. what a special experience for a long time student of the greatest Naval battle of the 20th century.

I agree. I can barely believe the Americans even tried. Don’t know if it was duty or desperation . An unbelievable act of bravery, and I remember when I have challenges to find inspiration.

It still grinds me that Mitscher and Ring weren't permanently exiled after sending the Hornet airwing on a flight to oblivion, not informing Spruance or Nimitz of their intent and subsequent action, and lying about it in the after action reports.

I met George Gay. He was exactly like many tough men I knew growing up in the. 60’s and 70’s. A no nonsense guy. I understood that part of him intuitively. It must be remembered that they all knew the Devastator was a death trap. They flew that plane knowing how bad it was for them. They spit in the eye of death. They payed with their lives. The idea of not attacking with what planes they had was not conceivable to these guys.

Yes, someone needs to do a story about the Flight to Nowhere. See my comment.

You can read the Book "A Dawn Like Thunder" by Robert J. Mrazek, The True Story Of TS 8, a very good history of the flight to nowhere

I am skeptical of the "Flight to Nowhere" scenario. Yes, I know, the top MIdway historians endorse it. But it is a Large-Secret-Enduring Conspiracy Theory. The aircrews knew the carriers were found to the southwest. But instead, they are all sent to the west and find nothing. And so miss the most important airstrike of the war. And they all remain silent about it for over 40 years. I don't believe it.

I think Shattered Sword is another good read. I've done some research on the Hornet's Air Group. There's multiple reasons why this occurred.

My Father in Law was a Marine in that theater and he was also very very quite and reserved. Never spoke of it. It was only after his death at 88 did we find out all he had been through hidden in a locked box in his bedroom. The greatest generation.

My grandad was in the Army in London and France during the war. He wouldn’t tell me anything until i enlisted(in the Navy). Even then he didn’t tell me much. I know he had to kill a few people and it haunted him until he died.

@@aaroncarr5725 Killing another human being has to be a haunting thing but the alternative is worse. Big respect for all these heroes.

I always tear up when I hear the Navy Hymn, impossible not to. It reminds me powerfully of the Marine and Navy brethren I lost in Vietnam. Semper Fidelis and Anchors Aweigh, my friends.

@@bearowen5480 I'm admittedly, a fossil here. But that hymm always affected me. There was a TV series in the 1950's called Navy Log, and they played it at the end of every episode. I love that show.

And sometimes luck is pretty blind and dumb. There was quite a bit of that on the US side alongside their serious bravery and training. A remarkable episode of history and full credit to the US for their critical, costly victory that did indeed turn the War in the Pacific.

I had a fighter squadron commanding officer that used to say that he did not want you unless you were "Lucky.''

Couldn't agree more.

I read recently another wonderful book, And I Was There: Breaking the Code: Pearl Harbor and Midway by Adm. Edwin P. Layton

"Shattered Sword" does have a great deal of information on Japanese carrier operations which can't be found in one volume anywhere else. That said, it also presents a number of inaccurate "revelations". Furthermore, their primary source is not the official history that they claim it to be. The book should be read with caution. Cheers...

Imagine flying off of the Best Carrier. 👍

@@manilajohn0182 I have heard/read that but for the most part it is accurate and more so than any of the other books about Midway which are older for the most part and loaded with fiction.

As a Naval War College graduate who took the "War In the Pacific" elective course there, I would also commend to you our text for that excellent class, "Eagle Against the Sun".

I invite you to find any lecture by John parshall. This guy was very good about the dive bomber info but some is to much stuff that has, with new info we know, been proven different.

It still grinds in my gears that Mitscher's exile wasn't permanent, but rescinded by "second Chance" Nimitz, I'm guessing with Spruance's acquiescence, knowing that Mitscher and Ring lied in their after action reports about sending the Hornet airwing on a different course than that ordered, AND NOT INFORMING the CARRIER FORCE COMMANDER of THEIR INDEPENDENT ACTION! WHICH Caused the Loss of their entire fighter group and some of the remaining fighter and attack force when they ran out of fuel on the "Flight to Nowhere". Both Nimitz and Spruance kept quiet about Mitscher's and Ring's treachery AND incompetence. At least Mitscher had enough residual shame and memory of these events that he didn't disobey Spruance a second time at Saipan and Phillipine Sea when Spruance ordered all ships to standby and protect the Saipan invasion force, to play defense against the Japanese carrier force bearing down on them. In the minds of those aviator carrier captains, they were giving up the initiative to the Japanese strike force. In reality they had laid a perfect trap into which the Japanese Naval Aviation arm flew, and were destroyed in what was named the Great Marianas Marianas Turkey Shoot. The combination of a well organized fighter direction center and experienced wing commanders with overwhelming numbers of a superior fighter force annihilated the Japanese attack force, most likely more effectively than if the carrier captains had gotten their way. It almost didn't matter if ALL the Japanese carriers had gotten away, which they didn't, since the Japanese retired with three fourths of their aircraft lost, never to be replaced. And the ability to replace spent fuel denied by our submarines and control of shipping lanes by complete air superiority by land and sea. The next day the fighter jocks got their way and showed their lack of disciplined judgment by launching full deck loads of airplanes in a chase from which many would never return in a flight beyond range and daylight. Mitscher gets credit for turning on the lights of his entire fleet to give his returning airplanes a chance to find the fleet, at risk of giving Japanese submarines sitting duck targets. This was clearly an act of desperation by Mitscher to try to keep from losing his entire air group, which had been totally victorious the day before. We handed back enough lost airplanes and crew to not quite even the score from the day before, but to unnecessarily lose a lot of people and planes. It's damn good that the Saipan air cover didn't suffer, or Nimitz and Spruance would have had to find new skippers for the entire carrier fleet. I would have replaced a lot of flag officers in charge of sending men into the night. I think putting Ching Lee in charge of the whole lot the next day would have sent the right message and some cold water where it was needed. The whole Halsey command suffered from Victory disease in the last months of WW2 with Halsey taking on two typhoons losing several ships with many hands. Halsey and MacArthur should have been relieved. The war had passed both of them by. Tĥe

Slow But Deadly.

Do you have a citation to the article?

@@michaelsommers2356 Afraid someone would ask that. NWC Review now available online in pdf format for last 50 years or so. That article was sometime in late 1980s to early 1990s. I tried to search for it, however, the search function only works for the last few years. One of my rainy day projects is to go through the online repository and download articles of interest. Unfortunately, without a good search function that will take time.

I wonder finally whose Hand was on that victory?

Add to that the idea that our torpedoes were less than reliable and our VT combat crews were more than heroic.

Not just Americans, the whole Western world-with love from Australia.

@@rogerpattube absolutely, sir. Thank you for the reminder.

YES INDEED. That site is one of the best on the net, without doubt. It beats the stuffing out of its competition. It is in every sense of the word, "Professional".

What is this great website called, if it doesn't feature Seth and Bill? The Second Best Also Unofficial....

They had an interphone. The Japanese used voice tubes.

My understanding is that the Japanese referred to the Dauntless dive bomber as "Helldiver" due to the screaming sound caused by the holes in its dive brakes.

yes, to say the least. american innovation and big brass balls; are you familiar with the Blue Goose story? Major Jack Cram, USMC, was General Geiger’s junior aide and flew the General’s private PBY - always. Never did the General fly without Major Cram at the yoke and rarely was there a pilot occupying the co-pilot’s seat, except General Geiger. But the size of the PBY, and it subject to the constant bombardment of the General’s area, prompted Geiger to order Major Cram to limit his activities to transporting supplies and personnel. On the afternoon of the 14th of October, Major Cram landed his PBY between the bomb craters on Henderson Field with a torpedo attached under each wing, having picked them up at Noumea, New Caledonia for Torpedo Squadron Eight. But the TBF squadron had been bombed and shot out of service before the Major’s arrival at the field and there seemed no apparent use for the torpedoes. However, the Major came up with a hair-raising idea that contributed to the defense of the United States’ position on Guadalcanal and caused the General to write out a citation leading to the award of the Navy Cross to this brave man. "Our Operations Officer, Joe Renner, spent much of the time with me and painted a picture so critical of our chances that nothing short of a miracle could save us. But I was getting the hint of an idea and, as soon as there was a let-up in the bombardment, I approached General Geiger’s aide, Toby Munn, with a request to let me rig a manual release for the two torpedoes still on my PBY and attack the Jap troop transports. As crazy as the plan was, Colonel Munn agreed there was little else left for any of us and immediately took me to the General. He gave his blessing and ordered us to find as much protection as we could from the remaining flyable aircraft. By 1000 hours we were ready. I had just received a crash course in the art of aircraft torpedo bombing - from a PBY - with a makeshift manual release for the torpedoes, speed recommendations and proper drop altitude." "My entire crew climbed aboard the Cat with me and we took off, heading out toward Savo Island where I took her up to about 6000 feet before pushing over into a long dive. I lined up between two of the transports and was concentrating so much on what I was supposed to do next that I forgot about my airspeed. When the plane began to shake, and the wings looked as if they were on a sea gull in flight, I chanced a look at the airspeed indicator. I thought, at that moment, I was dead for sure. The plane was ripping through the air at 240 knots - at least 60 knots beyond safe air speed for a PBY." "Even though I eased up, we were still going so fast we passed over the destroyer screen before they saw us, and suddenly, there were my targets. I released one torpedo, waited a couple of seconds, then pulled the release on the other and started to get the hell out of there. I pulled the Cat up into a left turn and headed for Henderson Field. Back behind, one of our torpedoes scored a direct hit on a transport while the other one missed." wow.

@@robertwittjr1198 I had to laugh at that, a PBY "dive" torpedo bomber doing 240 knots. Incredible.

Dusty Kleiss

LCDR Best should have been awarded the Navy Cross for his actions at Midway

@DrakenViggen agreed

Albert Ernest and Harry Ferrier, the other 2 "sole survivors" of VT-8, if you've never heard of them look them up. George Gay was not the sole survivor of VT-8, that's another WW2 myth.

Best was awarded the Navy Cross.

Read his trilogy on modern carrier aviators. You won’t be disappointed.

All the books in the trilogy have Easter eggs like that.

It's a myth that Ensign George Gay was the sole survivor of VT-8. There were 2 other survivors who'd taken off from Midway, when the carrier left San Francisco 3 crews had been issued the new Grumman Avenger, they weren't ready to leave yet when the carrier departed so a day or two later they flew directly to Midway Island and on the day of the battle launched from there. Only one of them returned to Midway after the battle and was so shot up that Admiral Nimitz said of their flight back that it was "An epic in the history of Naval aviation". Year's after the war when George Gay was giving a lecture during the book tour for his book Sole Survivor the 2 men were seated in the back of the auditorium, on the way out a reporter saw them and when he ask who they were the pilot said "We're the other two sole survivors".

SBD Your father was Earl Howell?

@@AA-xo9uw Yes he was. 1919 to 1989. Sorry it took so long to reply, I was in the wilds of British Columbia with no communication ability.

Yes and no, to be fair, an incredible battle, and a turning point. But the IJN still had some fight in it. Look at the Savo island battle, just a couple of months after Midway. It was not (at the time) a given, that the USN was going to be the victor.

@@-few-fernando11 In all Honesty Japan signed it's own death warrant after December 7, 1941.

Excellent book.

Waldron told his pilots that half would be lost on the first attack, and half of the remainder on the second. He envisioned a third attack on 4 June.

@@kevinmiller5780 my god ,,what bravery