RIP
Posted on 05/14/2016 11:05:28 AM PDT by DFG
I knew the day might come. The news still hurt.
The daughter of an amazing war hero called the other night to say her father was dying. An overnight email a day later told me that Norman "Dusty" Kleiss, 100 years old, hero of the Battle of Midway, had died Friday. He was the last surviving dive-bomber from the sea battle that turned the tide of World War II. In discussing Dusty with his daughter, we agreed it was as if the pilot was determined to reach the age of 100 before his health faded. Several weeks ago, there was a big weekend party in San Antonio, where he lived. Family, friends and even some, uh, belly dancers attended.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I'm sure that we will get an appropriate announcement from the White Hut shortly...
It is a shame that most people alive today in America have never even heard of the Battle of Midway, the most decisive naval battle in history.
RIP
The book I recommend is Walter Lord’s “Incredible Victory”. I’ve read and reread it at least a dozen times. Something I try to do on the anniversary of the Battle of Midway in early June. It is inspiring, accurate, and it evokes the times and events in the way Mitchner sometimes did. Lord also wrote “A Night to Remember” about the Titanic, another book worth the read.
But I get your point.
Oh, and not to mention that US torpedoes sucked.
The other point in the article that I think is so important is that we knew the Japanese were committed no to Midway.
Their communications security was bad enough, and our code breakers were good enough, that we knew they were coming and we could prepare for them.
That’s why Hillary Clinton’s awful behavior with communications security infuriates me.
The Japanese would desperately liked to have never sent that signal about the water plant at Midway. It cost them four carriers and many men.
Probably the war.
And she just acts like what she did was nothing.
We “are so” screwed today
Hopefully it will be we “Were Screwed” ,today
Once I was seven years old.....
I remember that he was on the MIL channel about the Battle of Midway.
RIP Dusty with a sharp, clean, military salute!
Commander John C. Waldron stuck it to the Jap bastards with his dying breath.
The primary reason the Japanese fighter CAP devoted all their attention to the torpedo planes is that coordination with the dive bombers broke down; they were supposed to go in together, and force the enemy to divide their defenses. But in the desperate search for the Japanese carriers, the torpedo and dive bomber formations lost sight of each other. When Lt Cmdr John Waldron (leader of Torpedo 8 from the USS Hornet) spotted the enemy flattops, he decided to press home his attack, realizing that without the dive bombers and fighter escort, it would be a suicide mission.
Many also forget that Waldron attacked the Japanese fleet with literally “half a squadron” that morning. His unit was among the first slated to receive the new TBF Avenger, and Waldron sent his less experienced pilots, gunners and maintenance troops to qualify in the TBF. Before Waldron and the rest of the squadron could complete the conversion, the Hornet was ordered to the Pacific, so the elements of Torpedo 8 still equipped with the obsolete TBDs sailed with her.
Meanwhile, the Avenger detachment had completed the conversion and headed for the Pacific, hoping to link up with the rest of the squadron at Pearl Harbor. But they arrived in Hawaii one day after the carrier deployed to Midway, so Navy commanders decided to send the Avenger-equipped element of Torpedo 8 to the island, and become part of the land-based air element that would attack the Japanese fleet in the early stages of the battle.
The crews flying the new TBFs fared only marginally better than Waldron and his men in the TBDs. Only one of the Avengers survived the battle; the last survivor from that crew, Radioman 3rd Class Harry Ferrier, died less than a month ago. Ferrier joined the Navy at 16 (his mother helped him forge his birth certificate) and flew in battle at Midway before his 18th birthday. Ferrier went on to serve 30 years in the Navy, earned his commission and retired as a Commander in 1971.
Here’s a link to Commander Ferrier’s obituary from last month:
With the passing of Captain Kleiss and Commander Ferrier, I wonder: are there any former crew members still living who turned the course of World War II in the matter of a few minutes? These men are not only amazing; they are national treasures.
Lt. Commander John C. Waldron ignored the rest of the Hornet Strike Group, when they wouldn't follow his hunch, and struck out for the fight on his own.
He took his men of Torpedo 8 directly to the enemy, and sucked the Japanese CAP down to the deck.
Too bad for their charges, the Japanese carriers...
One cannot repeat the name of John C. Waldron too often.
We were MORE brave and disciplined than the Japanese during World War 2.
The Caine Mutiny is a must read.
The exploits of Taffy 3 are also required reading.
I remember being seven. It was many, many, many lifetimes ago.
In a way it is too bad he didn’t die at America’s peak under Reagan, rather than living to see his and others’ sacrifices shit all over.
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