大象传媒

The following story appears courtesy of and with thanks to Captain Kleiss and Jeff Burton.

On 3 June 1942 we waited in ambush. All pilots were ready for take-off on a minutes notice. Later in the day we were told that an Air Force pilot had reported, "Enemy sighted. Main body", nothing further. Finally we pilots were told to get a few hours of sleep and get a hasty breakfast. Next day our ready room speaker reported that a PBY pilot flying through clouds had spotted a number of aircraft carriers below him. He calmly reported Latitude, Longitude and course and speed of the enemy. Later some pilots would also argue whether he added, "Please notify next of kin." Somehow the PBY was not observed by the Japs.

We immediately launched our dive bombers at 0945. LCDR McClusky headed the Air Group with Lt. Earl Gallaher just behind him. I led the next section to the right of Earl. We had 16 SBD's.

Just behind and below us were 15 SBD'S led by LT. Dick Best. Thirty-one ENTERPRISE planes in all. A similar number was launched from the YORKTOWN and from the HORNET.

Shortly after we took off, a scout from Midway reported that the Japanese carriers had reversed course. Now they were coming closer to the ENTERPRISE instead of going farther away.

The TBD torpedo planes were now within range. They were launched immediately from our three carriers. Hopefully these slower aircraft, with a closer target distance, would arrive just as our dive bombers made their attacks. Strict Radio Silence kept our dive bombers from learning about the new location and direction of the enemy.

Now let us think about things as Admiral Yamamoto, head of the armada, saw them. The Midway Island attack would be a piece of cake. The easy capture of this important base would cause the United States to sue for peace. His plan had worked perfectly and he had taken every precaution. His huge armada had travelled farther north than normal sea lanes. No submarines had detected him. Midway was unaware, and ill-prepared for an attack. The side attack of Dutch Harbor would surely send U.S. forces to head directly there. He would ambush and slaughter them.

As he expected, our U.S. Midway scouts finally detected his main body forces. All U.S. forces would go there. His undetected four best carriers a safe distance away, could wreck Midway at will. Then his battleships would clobber what was left, and his 5,000 troops from his transports would come in. Admiral Naguma, in charge of the Japanese carriers, had taken every precaution. He didn't think that any U.S. carriers were present, but to make sure he sent his scout planes 360 degrees for all possibilities. One scout in one sector was delayed a couple of hours. Engine trouble. The other scouts returned to Naguma assuring him that no U.S. ships were present. The flustered, hurried, remaining scout, covering this missing sector, flew directly over the cloud cover on top of our aircraft carriers. He reported to Naguma that no U.S. Ships were present.

Nagurna wasn't worried even if U.S. carriers were present. He had his best carriers and his best pilots with him. His aircraft torpedoes were vastly better than ours. Our torpedoes would malfunction if dropped higher than a hundred feet or dropped at a speed faster than 100 knots. Ours had a tiny explosive warhead. Japanese torpedoes worked well when dropped from 200 feet and at speeds up to 200 knots. They also had a deadlier war head.

His carrier pilots bombed Midway exactly as planned. They told him that they severely damaged the installation and they had encountered little opposition. Still Nagumo had that sixth-sense feeling that all was not well. Some SBD's and TBF's had been sighted. Were they coming from Midway? He ordered his planes loaded with torpedoes and carrier-type bombs.

No sooner than this was accomplished than his scouts reported that the U.S. Air Force was bombing his transports. Urgent help was needed to bomb Midway a second time to keep B 17's from using Midway. The combat loads of his carrier planes were removed, and exchanged for bombs to make holes in runways. No sooner was this accomplished than a Japanese scout reported finding our ENTERPRISE and YORKTOWN carriers. Japanese planes were again reloaded with torpedoes and different type bombs. Bombs and ammo were stacked everywhere.

In the midst of all this confusion, all three squadrons of U.S. torpedo planes arrived. Japanese fighter planes slaughtered them. All TBD's had attempted to drop their torpedoes. Only a handful of torpedo planes escaped. No torpedo hit any carrier.

The Japanese had learned from the Battle of the Coral Sea that our torpedoes could only speed at 31 knots. Jap carriers moved at 30 knots, so they just sped away from torpedoes being launched. Our loaded TBD's could only fly at 100 knots. Jap fighters easily picked them off as the TBD's tried to get ahead of the carrier.

Now fast track to our SBD's. McClusky found an empty ocean where the enemy carriers were supposed to be. He figured that the Japanese must have reversed course. Soon he saw a destroyer going at high speed. This had to be a picket ship going to catch up with his fleet.

Suddenly we saw the KAGA, the AKAGI and the SORYU almost below us, in an open stretch of clouds.

"Earl and I will take the one on the right. Dick, you take the one on the left."

We went into eschelon formation. McClusky and his two wing men dived first, then Gallaher and two wingmen, then me and then the rest of Scouting Six, all heading for the KAGA. Dick Best and Bombing Six dived for the AKAGI. The YORKTOWN dive bombers dived for the SORYU.

The situation was a carrier pilot's dream. No anti-aircraft, all three carriers heading straight into the wind. Two fighters were above us, but they were not making an attack.

MClusky and his two wingmen missed. Earl Gallaher's 500 pound bomb hit squarely on a plane starting its take-off. His two 100 pound incendiaries hit just beside it. Immediately the whole pack of planes at the stern were in flames 50 feet high.

I couldn't see the bombs landing from the next two planes, but flames had spread. to the middle of the ship. My bombs landed exactly on the big red circle forward of the bridge. Seconds later the flames were 100 feet high. Walter Lord later learned from the Japanese that my bomb splashed a gasoline cart, throwing its flaming contents into the KAGA's bridge.

A fighter attacked us as I pulled out of my dive. John Snowden, my gunner, disposed of him in five seconds. A second fighter came at us. John disposed of him. Then it was a survival to escape anti-aircraft fire while passing near a dozen ships until I'd reached ten miles toward Midway.

Ten minutes after the attack I saw a large explosion amid ship on the KAGA. Rockets of flame, pieces of steel bolted upward to about three or four thousand feet high.

Dick Best's squadron had bombed the the KAGA and the YORKTOWN bombers hit the SORYU. Both were burning fiercely

The KAGA then sent up a huge brown cloud of smoke. I could no longer see the ship and presumed it was sunk. The other two fires were visible 30 miles away. As directed, I headed 40 miles toward Midway before heading to our carrier. As I climbed slowly up to cloud level I saw a Jap fighter heading at me. I headed directly at him and he ducked away into a cloud.

Then I saw a Bombing Six plane land in the sea and the crew getting their rubber raft. I marked their position

Then on my left a few miles away I saw several dozen planes from the HIRYU flying at high speed toward our carriers. I'd glimpsed this 4th carrier, about 20 miles away, during my dive.

I had used every trick I knew to get every mile out of each drop of gas. The ENTERPRISE saw me coming, headed into the wind. I landed on the carrier without circling. I landed with five gallons of gas. We had launched 16 SBD's. Eight made it back

As soon as our SBD's were loaded and gassed, we took off for the HIRYU. Before I got back to the Big E, the Japanese from the HIRYO had exploded torpedoes on the YORKTOWN, setting her temporarily on fire and causing her to be abandoned. Her airplanes landed on the ENTERPRISE and HORNET .

We added these additional YORKTOWN SBD's to our group, making a total of 24 planes for our second attack and headed for the HIRYU. None of the HORNET's dive bombers were with us becase they were not able to find the enemy carriers.

Our second attack was different. Lots of fighters everyhere. Four of them attacked the plane ahead. Adkins, the radioman-gunner started aiming at them. Somehow his twin machine gun broke loose. He shot down the first fighter holding the twin machine guns like a shotgun. The three other three fighters ran away. Previously Adkins needed help to carry this weapon.

Gallaher was first to dive. He and the next pilot missed because the HIRYO made a tight semi-circle. The third pilot made a hit directly in the center of the flight deck. Mine landed on the same spot. More hits were made. Explosions and flames appeared but they were mild as compared with the damage witnessed on the KAGA and the other carriers.

We launched 24 planes for this attack. We lost none of them.

During the middle of the night Nagurna sent out a message to his fleet to take Midway regardless of all cost. Meantime a U.S. submarine reported seeing a silhouette of a Jap Carrier. It could by the damaged HIRYU or maybe a 5th carrier.

Admiral Spruance wasn't about to trade 8" guns against 18" guns in a night battle. He also might encounter an unknown Jap carrier. By daylight it became obvious that the entire armada had headed for home.

Why Naguma changed his mind is uncertain. It might have been the report he received from an interpreter who had drawn information of Ensign O'Flaherty and Peter Gaido, lst Class Machinist Mate of our Scouting Six squadron. Their SBD had been forced down. They were rescued from their rubber raft by the Japanese. They knew they would be questioned, and had time to set their stories straight. Neither had even seen Midway.

Independently, under death threats, they had to describe the fortifications of Midway. Each told about the hundreds of five inch guns that ringed Midway, the dozens of PBY's there, the thousands of Marines there and all the extra reinforcements. The Japanese sent the information to the Naguma, killed both of them, and dumped their bodies in the ocean.

At dawn we found only an empty ocean, The Japanese had headed hell-bent for home.

On the fifth of June we could only catch up with a small cruiser at dusk. She did everything right. We scored no hits. She shot down one of our planes. On the sixth of June we caught up with the battle cruiser MIKUMI and sank it. Her Picture is in my log book, with its few survivors on its stern, just before she sank. Some destroyers were badly damaged.

The HORNET dive bombers found some more large cruisers, sinking at least one. Then we could no longer chase the Japanese. The destroyers were bone dry. We were ready to head for Dutch Harbor to give them some help, but we were told that the Japanese had left, and no help was needed. So we headed back to Pearl Harbor for a beer.

And now I will mention the REAL heroes of the Battle of Midway.

The Marine pilots who flew our discarded, shot-up SBD's attacking the Jap carriers. Of the entire squadron, only one pilot survived.

Of the TBF pilots from Midway, only one survived.

The Air Force B-17 pilots like Dave Hassimer, of Air Force Village I who scouted the Japanese foces and engaged in combat with their planes, bombed transports, and made our dive bombing attacks possible. They let us sneak in the back door and do the mischief.

Let us not forget the valient torpedo crews who unflinchedly gave their lives to give a great shot at the laps. Also let us pray for the dive bomber crews who knew they had no chance of reaching our carrier.

Remember also the shipboard crews of the YORKTOWN and the ENTERPRISE who did their work perfectly.

Particular kudo's go for the boiler-tenders of the ENTERPRISE, who totally rebricked her boilers with the ship underway. A hot, dangerous operation. One I'd never heard of before. They gave us 30 knots of speed which helped us dodge a submarine torpedo. It passed astern 50 feet behind the ship.

We, the survivors, had the easy part. The tough ones are the wives and family members who lost everything.

'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 People鈥檚 War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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