Posted on 06/04/2013 11:18:48 AM PDT by Retain Mike
As the Zeros swirled madly around the Devastators, it seemed to Tex Gay that he was flying in slow motion. The enemy fighters appeared to have three times his speed, and were darting in and out of their tight formation like backcountry prairie falcons.
Up ahead to his right he saw one of the Devastators drop like a hurtling stone into the sea, its two man crew gone in an instant. It happened so fast that Tex had no idea whose plane it was. A few seconds later another Devastator went down on his left.
"Was that a Zero or one of our planes?" came commander Waldron's voice on the radio.
Tex radioed back that it was a Devastator.
The Zeroes were concentrating on the lead planes in the formation as Torpedo Eight continued boring in towards the nearest Japanese carriers. Tex tried to keep his Devastator steady so that his crewman, Bob Huntington, has a clear and stable field of fire. That also made them easier prey.
He watched as another of the Devastators blew up in a shower of flame and debris. They were past the airborn wreckage a moment later. The dwindling formation was still miles from the carriers when yet another torpedo plane did a slow half roll and crash into the sea on its back, disintegrating when it hit the water.
Bob Huntington came on the intercom -"Lets go back and help, sir" he said.
There was nothing they could do to help. Tex could only press on with the attack, even if they were the last ones left. Those were the Skipper's orders. There would be time for mourning the losses later.
Two Zeroes moved in to attack him, one from behind and the other from the port side. He could feel bullets thudding into the armor plate behind his bucket seat. A second pattern raked his instrument panel and blasted several holes in his windshield.
He heard Huntington cry out on the intercom. Turning his head for a quick look, he saw him slumped down in his seat, motionless. When he turned forward again, the Devastator that had been flying next to him had disappeared.
In the distance, Tex saw that the carriers had swung west, heading away from them to reduce their target profile. Shoving the throttle forward, he watched the air speed indicator slowly begin to climb, Waldron's voice was still coming through his earphones, fast a furious.
"There's two fighters in the water," the Skipper had radioed at one point. "See that splash... I'd give a million to know who'd done that."
In the tail compartment of his Dauntless dive bomber far to the north, Leroy Quillen was listening to Waldron's excited words. He wondered why no one in the group was responding to Waldron's calls.
"My two wingmen are going in," came Waldron's voice one last time.
Then it was his turn.
The Skipper's plane was out in front of the remaining Devastators, all alone except for the attacking Zeroes. As Tex watched, Waldron's plane suddenly burst into flames. Fire quickly enveloped the fuselage, and the plane began gliding down towards the sea, trailing a thick cloud of smoke and fire.
The Skipper suddenly stood up in the blazing cockpit as if he were riding a fiery chariot. In the plane's final moments, he thrust his leg out onto the right wing. Then the plane hit the water and was gone.
Greatest act of courage I ever heard of in WWII was during the Battle of Leyte Gulf when the USS Johnston [commanded by Ernest Evans] and the USS Hoel, both destroyer excorts, relentlessly attacked Japanese battleships that were bearing down on the Leyte beachhead ...
Great post!
The turning point in the Pacific theater. Valiant fighting that day, for sure!
A miracle helped along by the fact that we could read all their coded messages:
http://www.navalhistory.org/2013/06/04/navy-cryptology-and-the-battle-of-midway-our-finest-hour
Navy Cryptology and the Battle of Midway: Our Finest Hour
A special feature of the BATTLE OF MIDWAY ROUNDTABLE
by LCDR Philip H. Jacobsen, USN-Ret
(Editor’s note: the following is the text of an address given by LCDR Jacobsen to a gathering of Naval Security Group personnel at San Diego in 2000. It has been edited slightly for clarity and to better suit this format.)
The Advent of U.S. Naval Cryptology
Although my part in the Battle of Midway was very small, I appreciate this opportunity to relate to you some of the more important achievements of my contemporary naval cryptologists that made the success of the Battle of Midway possible. As a current member of the Naval Security Group, you can take pride in the great accomplishments of your predecessors, not only related to the Battle of Midway but long before World War II as well as throughout World War II.
There are not many naval cryptologic veterans alive today that were involved in providing the communications intelligence information that gave our inferior forces on land, sea and especially in the air the equalizer of knowing the composition of enemy forces, and when and where those huge Japanese forces would attack U.S. territory under Admiral Yamamoto’s grandiose invasion plan. This crucial communications intelligence information, when combined with the heroic actions of fighting forces under the brilliant command of Admiral Nimitz, led to the great U.S. victory in the Battle of Midway.
The above is just part of this great story. Go to the link for the rest of the story: http://www.navalhistory.org/2013/06/04/navy-cryptology-and-the-battle-of-midway-our-finest-hour
the key was a hand full of sailors breaking the jap naval code indicating Midway was next on the list. I joined this group in 1947 right out of boot camp and spent 27 years in a very interesting role.
“The battle is won, or lost, before the first arrow is fired.”
That said, flying 100 mph with Zeros on your tail......those were men to be proud of.
The coded messages basically let them know Midway was the target. Beyond that small starting place, it was basically guts and skill of the aircrews.
The codebreaking didn’t lead our planes to the Jap fleet, etc. The location and attack on that ememy fleet was pure naval skill.
The Japs were never found via radar or anything else.
The codebreaking kept the attack on Midway from being a surprise, but did little beyond that.
An interesting note I read on Midway and I’m sorry I don’t have the source. I believe it was the carrier Akagi that was sunk with all the Japanese aircraft attack footage from Pearl Harbor. The footage never made it’s way back to the mainland.
There was also a journalist aboard Akagi who filmed Kaga while she was under attack, obviously oblivious to the fact his own ship would be hit a minute later. That film didn’t survive the battle, either.
I used to play the "Midway" board game. IIRC, the B-17 factor was a die roll every so often (aka "sortie"), while Midway Island was still considered functional, that is.
I think you mean TBD’s ...the TBD replacement the TBF had just come in to service at the time of the battle and I believe only 3 were rushed to midway flying off the island itself. .none off the carriers
You are entirely correct - that looked funny when I reread it. Mea culpa and good catch.
Make no mistake in reading this reply, Midway was a great victory on a shoestring by greatly out-numbered US Forces, but it also well illustrated Japanese Admiral Yamamoto’s well known prediction of 6 to 12 months of great success followed by Japanese failure. This was the absolute nadir of the US Navy while also being the near height of the Imperial Japan Navy yet the US was only starting its engine while Japan was already near maximum effort.
It took only till 1943 before the US alone was outproducing Japan in all war production areas and mid-1944 before it was outproducing EVERY other Axis or Allied composite. By late 1944 the US Navy had cancelled more warships than all other countries had in service and it was said with more than a little truth that you could fly a Piper Cub from San Francisco to Tokyo by landing on the outbound USN Carriers.
It is one of the things that keeps me from drinking myself senseless over our current condition, we have been down so many times in our history yet followed the depths with new heights. We shall (pray God) do this again!
I’ll have to find it somewhere, but I believe one Japanese Captain stated something along the lines of “We were lied to, they do know bushido”.
Only Yamamoto was not suprised as he had spent time stateside.
Four TBFs flew from Midway to attack the carriers, two returned.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.