Posted on 05/14/2016 11:05:28 AM PDT by DFG
Wow. I didn’t know that. Sacrifice after courage and bravery.
RIP, Dusty...and all of those who fought so bravely to defend this nation.
I saw a program on “The History Channel” about the Battle off Samar and Taffy 3. It ranked right up there with the Spartans at Thermopylae. as far as I could tell.
They didn’t just fight bravely, they fought extremely well.
Yeah. Humbling, ain’t it?
Thank you for my freedom Mr. Kleiss. What this man and his fellow Navy aviators did in the space of ten minutes is about the most amazing feat of aviation skill, daring and sheer guts and is the reason we aren’t speaking Japanese.
My Father is 93 and served in the Navy in the South Pacific during WWII.
He as a Signalman who Served on a Mine Sweeper, a Navy Tug that pulled disabled Landing Craft off the Beaches and then a Destroyer. He even rode out that deadly Typhoon on a Landing Barge that was converted to a Machine Shop.
Just like Hillary Clinton, my Father wanted to join the Marines but the Recruiter decided to put him in the Navy because they had to reach their Quota.
My Father couldn’t Swim a stroke. He learned the hard way in Navy Boot Camp.
His Older Brother was a Seabee. Built Landing Strips on the Islands we captured from the Japanese. I always look to see If I can recognize him while watching those WWII Documentaries on the Military Channel.
If we had the current crop of Morons running the Country back then, we would all be speaking either German or Japanese today.
My dad would have been 100 this year. He was on the minesweeper YMS 383 (the “Merganser” IIRC). It was lost during the typhoon off Okinawa in the fall of 1945.
Watch the movie every year on the anniversary. My 6 kids, ages, 12-27, their spouses and, soon our grandchildren when they’re older, all know of the heroism and valor of those who fought in this battle. It’s hard to imagine what we’d be if we didn’t guess right and Carey the day.
*carry
The chew toy bit a few toes off the attack dog.
The Marine pilots on Midway flew Brewster Buffalos. They were lost to a man attacking the incoming Japanese attackers over the Island.
In his book, Saburo Sakai mentions that the best pilot he ever faced was early in the war. He was a Dutchman flying a buffalo.
Everytime Sakai would have him in his sights the buffalo pilot would pull some maneuver and escape. He finally did get him but said it was simply because he was flying a far better plane.
Nope, there were actually Buffalos at Midway on the island itself, June 1942! USMC VMF-221 had 20 Brewster F2A-3 Buffalos and 7 Grumman F4F-3 Wildcats. Major Floyd Parks (Navy Cross) led the 1st defense against the IJN air attack losing his own life as well as most of the Buffalos.
The last F2A-3s were returned to the US for trainers by August of 1942. The upgraded F4F-4 Wildcat was already superior and then came the F6F Hellcats and F4U Corsairs which put both to the history books.
To that list I would offer Ernie Pyle’s “Brave Men”
It is arguable but stacked up against Salamis (480 BC Persians vs Greeks) or Lepanto (1571 Ottomans vs Catholic Europe), I don't think so. Remember that IJN Admiral Yamamoto, himself, said that Japan would have 6 months of free rein in the Pacific but then the power of the USA would start to hit back. If Japan had won at Midway, we had Hawaii at peril and the supply route to ANZAC in grave danger. Yet, even then, the US & Allied Submarines were starting to be felt and Japan's power was stretched very thin. US Technology in aircraft alone was becoming equal in 1942 and became superior in 1943 and forward.
Speedy 3s carried the day.
How would U.S. submarines have threatened Japan if Hawaii was in Japanese hands? I had some reservations about describing Midway as the most decisive naval battle in history. My justification is the dramatic reversal in the relative position of the two adversaries pre- and post. There may have been more *important* naval battles, but they represent the ineluctable outcome of an imbalance in power. The Battle of Midway *created* the imbalance.
Tag
“Brave Men” is one of the best books I have ever read.
crypto and Midway
http://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/navy-cryptology-and-the-battle-of-midway-our-finest-hour/
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