Posted on 11/13/2010 6:57:10 AM PST by Gomer1066
Many readers of American Thinker will recognize Midway as the scene of our first and in many ways our greatest naval victory of World War II. It is not remembered now, but for the first six months of 1942, we were losing World War II. After sinking most of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese occupied Wake Island and Guam in December 1941. In April 1942, they defeated our army in the Philippines and put it on the Death March.
After Jimmy Doolittle bombed Tokyo in April 1942, the Japanese decided to eliminate the U.S. Navy in a final battle. They sent a very strong force to occupy Midway Island, about 1,500 miles from Hawaii, figuring that this would be a challenge the Navy could not refuse and which would result in a decisive battle of annihilation of what was left of the American fleet.
The Japanese did not realize that we had broken their naval code, and instead of being surprised at Midway, we bushwhacked them, sinking their entire striking force of four heavy carriers. The Battle of Midway, June 4, 1942, is regarded as one of the most decisive naval engagements in history. It was characterized by Admiral Ernest King, the Chief of Naval Operations, as having "restored the balance of power in the Pacific."
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I visited the Midway, while it was ported at Yokosuka. They held an Open House on the base. Lots of fun.
I never served aboard her, but she was a fine ship nonetheless. Saw her plenty of times when I was station dito at Subic Bay in the 1980's. Several of my shipmates from my time in Subic Bay came there after serving on the Midway. I know Subic was like her second homeport. Below are links to a couple of USS Midway Alumni or Nostalgia websites and the USS Midway Musuem website in case you wish to check them out.
I was on the USS MIDWAY...
Okay, it was last year in San Diego, California as a tourist...but the ship was AWESOME!
I’ll check it out.
I have finished, just yesterday as a matter of fact, re reading The Shattered Sword by Jonathan Pashall copy right 2005. The book is about the Japanese Navy side of the battle. It is written from some first hand accounts by Japanese officers and sailors and from extensive study of the Japaneese records. It details the failure of the overall Japanese Naval establishment and how it did not understand what it was doing in prosecuting the war after Pearl Harbor. The book also details flight and naval operations of Kido Butai literally minute by minute during the battle. It has extensive appendices detailing th japanese order of battle, planes, ships, glossary, and minute by minute air operations form the 4 carrier decks.[
It refutes most of what is popularly known as myth and proves by detailed analysis of events as shown by the actual surviving Japanese and American records.
>>>I thought the hero of Midway was Glen Ford.
The real ‘hero’ of Midway was the team that cracked Jap codes.
Fortunately the Japanese were sighted at the last minute and we were able to engage them while many of their own planes were on deck being refitted with bombs and ammuniiton, and being refuelled. Thus the Japanese carriers were at their most vulnerable when we caught them. They started the day with five carriers, and at the end of the day they had one, the Hiryu, which had initially been kept in reserve.
Still, the actual island base of Midway was heavily damaged by Japanese raids, and the victory, as decisive as it was, was a near thing.
I did the tour of the USS MIDWAY now docked for good at San Diego, and read the stories about the scores of sailors killed and injuried over the years, not to mention the hard life on board with no A.C., crowded bunking, high noise levels and months at sea.
I’m glad I enlisted in the Air Force after that tour.
That would have been Hal Holbrook.
In the movie, yeah... but in reality the person portrayed & that team made it possible.
Charlton was the man.
Ford played the Task Force Commander. The one who made the critical decisions in the heat of battle. Forgetting for the moment that he was Canadian.
Yes, life at sea can be both hard and dangerous. Not what is advertised in recruiting offices.
The two most dangerous places to work in the sea going navy is the flight deck of an aircraft carrier or the engine room/engineering spaces of a ship. Always see fatalities or serious injuries on extended deployments from the flight deck or engineering spaces. Accidents always happen sooner or later.
One of the biggest bright sides of duty as sea is you get to visit exotic ports and countries that you would never have gone had you not been in the Navy.
I want to the be there when the leftists have their Hiroshima and Nagasaki moments.
Coral Sea was, at best, tactically indecisive [some might give the tactical win to the Japs based on respective losses], but a clear strategic win for the Allies. The Japanese move against Port Morseby was stopped cold. More importantly, due to their aircrew losses and damage, SHOKAKU and ZUIKAKU missed Midway. That’s at least one-third of their veteran carrier air strength, and one-third of Kido Butai’s carrier strength. Plus SHOKAKU and ZUIKAKU were Japan’s most modern, and largest fleet carriers at the time.
When were you on the USS Midway and what squadron; or were you part of the ship’s crew?
Glen Ford?? It wasx Hal Holbrook!
Anyone else out there grow up playing the Midway board game? I think it was by Avalon Hills, makers of lots of other great war games that occupied my indoor time.
Glenn Ford played Task Force Commander Admiral Raymond Spruance in the Midway movie. When Admiral Halsey was layed up with shingles and could not particpate in the upcoming Midway campaign, he recommend Spruance to take his place as Carrier Task Force commander to Admiral Chester Nimitz. Spruance commanded Halsey's Cruiser force previously.
Yes, Glenn Ford was born Canadian, but moved to the U.S. when he was 8 years old and became a naturalized American Citizen in 1939. Ford served in the Marine Corps as a motion picture cameraman and from the 1950's till the 1970's, served in the U.S. Navy Reserves as an officer, retiring as a Navy Captain (Reserves) in the late 1970's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Ford#Military_service
Ford, like Ronald Reagan, spent the first half of his life as a Democrat, but later became a Republican and campaigned for Reagan both in 1980 and 1984. Ford and Reagan were good friends.
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