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World War II Remembered: The Battle of Midway - Part 3
By Jennifer King and Timothy Rollins
June 13, 2002

Dateline: 4-7 June 1942
The Battle of Midway
Pacific Theater of Operations

Admiral Nimitz had made one of the most critical decisions in the entire war. Now, he would make another one, by fully committing three of his four remaining carriers to the crucial battle. Lexington had been sunk at Coral Sea, and Yorktown was at that moment being swarmed by hordes of construction crews, desperately trying to repair the damage done by the 800 pound bomb that had hit her. In less than three days, she would set sail with the repairmen still on board.

Yorktown would rendezvous with "Bull" Halsey's Task Force 16, comprised of carriers Enterprise and Hornet at the aptly nicknamed "Point Luck" on 2 June, 1942. TF 16 was now under the command of a former cruiser captain, Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, recommended specifically by Halsey, who was laid up in a hospital with acute dermatitis. Spruance's appointment met with no small amount of grumbling from higher-ups, but Halsey proved to have had the correct intuition. Spruance was cool, competent and an astute strategist. He was a great asset. Another asset was the island itself, which served, in essence as another carrier. Over the last few weeks, Midway had been resupplied and rearmed. It was bristling with troops, planes and ammunition. The Americans thus had two important tactical advantages over the Japanese - a shorter supply line and primitive radar.

At 3 June, 1942, at 0900, Ensign Jack Reid spotted a few specks just as he was about to turn around and return to Midway. Piloting his PBY with aplomb, Reid tracked the fleet for several hours, finally reporting the existence of eleven ships. It is believed that Reid spotted the Midway Occupation Force, under the command of Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo. Captain Simard, Commander at Midway, sent nine B-17s aloft. The B-17s found their targets, and dropped their bombs, but all fell short.

Next, four Catalina PBYs set off, the men having used good old American ingenuity in order to equip the usually unarmed planes. At approximately 0130, the enemy fleet was sighted, "steaming along as unconcerned as geese." Torpedoes were dropped, and the oiler Akebono Maru was hit, resulting in minor damage. These ships later turned out to be part of the Transport Group, with Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka commanding. Admiral Nimitz, being appraised of the situation, kept his confidence in the Intelligence info gathered by Rochefort, and cabled back that these ships "were not the enemy striking forceÖThat is the landing force. The striking force will hit from the northeast at daylight tomorrow." It is also not clear how well-appraised Admiral Nagumo, who commanded the Carrier Strike Force, was of the situation, due to the strict radio silence employed by Admiral Yamamoto.

4 June 1942:

At 0430, Yorktown launched 10 SBDs in order to patrol a northern semicircle to a radius of 100 miles. The Japanese fleet launched at approximately the same time, sending the strike force of thirty-six "Kate" torpedo bombers; thirty-six "Val" dive bombers and thirty-six Zero fighters off from carriers Hiryu, Akagi, Kaga and Soryu.

At the same time, six Marine F4F fighters took off from Midway under the command of Captain John F. Carey. They were joined by eleven Catalinas and sixteen B-17s. At 0534, the awaited word was finally received on board Enterprise. Catalina Number 4V58, piloted by Lieutenant Howard P. Ady, radioed in, "Enemy carrier, bearing 320, distance 180."

On Midway Island, the fighter pilots which had recently stood down, jumped in their planes and readied for flight. The air raid sirens started wailing. At 0545, on board Catalina Number 3V58, observer Ensign W.C. Corbell sighted two groups of forty-five planes moving in." Lieutenant William A. Chase radioed in, "Many planes heading Midway, bearing 320 degrees."

The Marine Corps pilots of VMF-221, led by Major Floyd B. "Red" Parks, took to the skies in their aging "Brewster Buffaloes" - more commonly designated "Flying Coffins" by the Marines. Parks also had six of the newer F4F "Wildcats" under his command. As the action began, Parks took off with six of the Buffaloes in his first division. They fought so tenaciously that the Japanese report greatly overestimated their number and their designation - radioing in that they had encountered "30 to 40 F4F-3s". Unfortunately, the Buffaloes were no match for the superior Zeros and Parks and five of his fellow Marines perished in the battle. Parks' death spurred fury in VMF-221, for he was shot down while parachuting onto the reef, and the Japanese continued to strafe him even after he was down.

The second division, led by Captain Daniel J. Hennessy, also fared badly. Hennessey and four of the Buffaloes were downed, after ferociously fighting off three Vees of eight Zeros each. Of the second division, only Captain Phillip R. White and Captain Herbert T. Merrill survived. Merrill was quite a bit more fortunate than Parks, for he was aided off the reef by Seaman Third Class E.J. Steward, who dove off his PT boat in order to help.

In the meantime, the Japanese were working over the island. They destroyed the Marines' command post and mess hall, thereby ensuing that the Marines would subsist on K rations for the duration of the battle. They also bombed the hospital, and completely decimated three oil storage tanks on Sand Island setting off a large and smoky fire. When the enemy bombers peeled off, Lt. Colonel Ira E. Kimes, Commander of MAG 22, radioed, "Fighters land, refuel by division." Receiving no reply, he radioed again, "All fighters land and reservice." Pitifully few responded. Out of twenty-six pilots, fourteen had perished. Only two of the fighter planes were even fit to fly again.

The cost for this gallantry was high - and the losses to the Japanese minimal. Admiral Nagumo's official report tallied somewhat with actual observances and comes close to eight or nine Japanese bombers downed, and three or four Zeros. Twenty Americans on the ground perished.

While the beleagured island garrison fought off the bombers, a detachment of six TBF torpedo planes, under the command of Lieutenant Langdon K. Fieberling and Ensign Oswald J. Gaynier, took off from Sand Island. The TBFs were newer planes, however they were armed with the poorly functioning torpedo fuses and they had no air cover - the fighters being saved for the defense of Midway. The TBFs were accompanied by four Army B-26s, commanded by Captain James F. Collins, Jr. At 0705, Akagi reported the intruders and Nagumo sent up a fighter squadron to intercept. The agile Zeros made mincemeat of the lumbering TBFs, and only one survived to return to Midway. Likewise, the B-26s were hampered by a lack of firepower - Captain Collins later reported bitterly that all of his five guns balked and hung up making them virtually unusable. Collins and his teammate, Lieutenant James P. Muri, were the only survivors of this action.

Although the Japanese had suffered little actual damage, the appearance of the TBFs lent credence to advice issued by Lieutenant Joichi Tomonaga, commander of the air raid. Tomonaga called for a second attack. Admiral Nagumo, who had left 93 planes on deck armed with bombs and torpedoes in case American ships appeared, vacillated. Finally, at 0715, he made the fateful decision to clear the decks for Tomonaga's returning planes, and he ordered the torpedo planes to disarm and rearm with bombs in preparation for a second attack on Midway.

Then, at 0728, a message came in from a scout plane off the cruiser Tone. This message reported the existence of the American fleet. Nagumo deliberated for fifteen minutes, then he signaled his force, "Prepare to carry out attacks on enemy fleet units." He ordered the crews to stop loading bombs and to replace them with torpedoes.

In the meantime, the Japanese carriers found themselves under attack from more Midway based forces. Major Lofton R. "Joe" Henderson led sixteen SBD-2 Dauntless dive bombers - most of which had green pilots - on a gliding descent towards the carriers. Beset by Zeros, most were downed. Only eight managed to get back to Midway, and out of those only two proved salvageable. These were followed by Lieutenant Colonel Walter C. Sweeney's formation of fifteen B-17s, which dropped 8500 tons of bombs from 20,000 feet and hit nothing.

The last land based attack on the Japanese fleet came from Major Benjamin W. Norris' eleven SB2U-3 "Vindicator" planes. The lumbering planes, nicknamed "Vibrators" by the pilots, soon attracted a swarm of Zeros. Norris decided to focus on a nearby target, the battleship Haruna, allegedly sunk by Colin Kelly off Luzon. Ten of the Vindicators dove on Haruna and all missed. However, only two planes were lost to enemy action. Two others crash landed and their crews were rescued by the swift actions of the PT boats.

Adding to the confusion, during the melee the submarine Nautilus surfaced, lobbing a torpedo at the battleship. The torpedo also missed, and Nautilus would survive the intense depth charge attack which followed. Around this same time, Tone's scout plane sent out the message that the American fleet included a carrier, after all.

Rear Admiral Spruance, had planned on launching his force at 0900, about 100 miles away from the Japanese carrier fleet. However, as the reports came in about the strike on Midway, he decided to launch early, hoping to catch the carriers refueling, with planes aboard. This was a tough decision to make, for it drastically reduced the chances of the planes returning successfully. Spruance nevertheless made it, and Hornet launched at 0700 with Enterprise following shortly thereafter. The strike force consisted of 20 Wildcats, 67 Dauntless dive bombers and 29 Devastator torpedo-bombers. Additionally, 18 Wildcats were to accompany them as a combat air patrol.

Admiral Fletcher adopted the same course and speed as Spruance, but avoided launching for an additional two hours in order to avoid the same mistakes he had made at Coral Sea.

In the cloud cover, Commander Stanhope C. Ring's 35 SBDs with fighter cover lost track of Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron's Torpedo Squadron Eight. Waldron, who knew that the chances of his having enough fuel to return were slim, nevertheless aimed the slow-moving bombers towards the carrier fleet. Beset by anti-aircraft fire and Zeros, all fifteen planes were shot down. Of the thirty crewmen, the only survivor was Ensign George H. Gay. Shot down, Gay managed to reach the surface and took cover under a rubber seat cushion. From his vantage point in the water, he watched as the battle raged all around him.

Lt. Commander Eugene E. Lindsay, of Enterprise's Torpedo Squadron 6, began his attack on Kaga, which unfortunately was no more successful than the earlier attacks. Ten out of fourteen planes were downed, and the men scored no hits. Shortly after this, at 1000, Yorktown's Torpedo Squadron 3, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Lance E. Massey, bore down on Soryu. Seven aircraft were blown from the sky.

The first wave of carrier-based attacks had suffered grievously. Only six planes returned out of a total of forty-one, and not a single torpedo had found its mark. However, the actions of the Torpedo Squadrons had forced the Japanese carriers to engage in defensive maneuvering which forestalled her launching aircraft. Secondly, the attacks had drawn down the Japanese fighter cover, leaving no high level protection for the carriers.

Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky, of Enterprise was searching for the carriers when he spotted a Japanese cruiser. McClusky decided to follow the ship (destroyer Arashi) and indeed, she did lead him straight to the fleet. McClusky ordered his group to attack, and they swooped down upon Kaga and Akagi. At the same time, Lieutenant Commander Maxwell Leslie led seventeen SBDs from Yorktown in an attack upon Soryu. At 1026, Akagi was hit, loaded with refueling planes and in the midst of switching from bombs to torpedoes. Admiral Nagumo had to literally be dragged off the burning ship, he transferred his flag to light cruiser Nagara for the remainder of the battle. Akagi's crew continued to fight the fires until 1915, when the captain ordered all hands to abandon ship. Akagi, drifting aimlessly, would be sunk before sunrise on 5 June.

In the meantime, Kaga was under assault. She took four direct hits, which landed among the planes on the flight deck and penetrated into the hanger below. Within minutes, Kaga was a mass of flames. Abandoned by her crew, she sank shortly before Akagi went down. Commander Leslie was meanwhile working over Soryu, which absorbed three thousand pound bomb hits before dissolving into a fiery inferno of burning fuel, planes and men. Twenty minutes later, Soryu was abandoned. While under tow, with the fires seemingly controlled, Soryu was beset upon by the submarine Nautilus at about 1400. Commander William H. Brockman fired three torpedoes, all of which hit home. Soryu sank within four hours.

The American dive bombers, in a space of about 6 minutes, had changed the course of the war. The Japanese had lost three flight carriers, and most of their experienced carrier pilots, in addition to valuable planes and ammunition. They would be in slow retreat from the greatest parameter of the "Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" from now on. ***

FOLLOW-UP ON ADMIRAL NIMITZ:

Many things happened in the life of Admiral Nimitz - some of them momentous, and some of them surprising. He left high school to attend the Naval Academy in 1905 and it was not until after attaining the rank of Fleet Admiral that he received his High School Diploma. Following the war however, he continued to serve in other ways as five-star officers do not retire from active duty; they may however, be excused to engage in other pursuits as Dwight Eisenhower had when he accepted the presidency of Columbia University in New York City. On 19 December 1944, he was advanced to the newly created rank of Fleet Admiral, and on 2 September 1945, was the United States signatory to the surrender terms aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

He hauled down his flag at Pearl Harbor on 26 Nov. 1945, and on 15 December relieved Fleet Admiral E.J. King as Chief of Naval Operations for a term of two years. On 01 January 1948, he reported as special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy in the Western Sea Frontier. In March of 1949, he was nominated as Plebiscite Administrator for Kashmir under the United Nations. When that did not materialize he asked to be relieved and accepted an assignment as a roving goodwill ambassador of the United Nations, to explain to the public the major issues confronting the U.N. In 1951, President Truman appointed him as Chairman of the nine-man commission on International Security and Industrial Rights. This commission never got underway because Congress never passed appropriate legislation.

His Decorations and Awards include the Distinguished Service Medal with two gold stars, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Lifesaving Medal, the Victory Medal with Escort Clasp, the American Defense Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal.

Thereafter, he took an active interest in San Francisco community affairs, in addition to his continued active participation in affairs of concern to the Navy and the country. He was an honorary vice president and later honorary president of the Naval Historical Foundation. He served for eight years as a regent of the University of California and did much to restore goodwill with Japan by raising funds to restore the battleship Mikasa, Admiral Togo's flagship at Tsushima in 1905.

Admiral Nimitz died on 20 February 1966, and was buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, California with full military honors.