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2 g SUNDAY. JUNE 3. 1962 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON Midway Encounter 20 Years Ago War's Most Decisive Battle (Editor'i not: Twenty years ago, America was 1 war. In Iht monthi after Pearl Harbor, tha news wai grim. On Jun 3, 1942, a mighty Japanese armada wu closing on Midway Is land, a litll blot ol sand and coral about 1,000 milas from Honolulu. Th Im , perial Navy planned to launch an amphibious in vasion, mop up tha tiny Marin dtachmant at Mid way and move on toward Pearl Harbor for a final showdown with the U.S. Pacific Fleet. But t w o American task forces lay in wait off Midway and World War II's most decisive naval battle followed.) By FREDERICK H. TREESH United Press International On Dec. 7,-1941. when the Japanese attacked Pearl Har bor, Japanese planes also stormed another American base, a little known sand and coral atoll 1,000 miles north west of Pearl. Midway Island, a seaplane .base and way station for trans pacific airliners, was pre sumed lost when, for three weeks, o word was received from its Marine garrison. tIisih on Christmas Day, a m.essa'j!j; got thoug from the bel.ea.ftueBcd outpost: "We're still hette. Blerry Christmas." Ly.ing in a di&cet path be tween Japsn and Pearl Har bor., Kloduw.y was a logscail sterpin'g. stom for an ex pect'ed. Ja.pa'n'ese Mw-.usl teutard Ha'wffii. Its for,tifie.ations wjere has'tily. reinforce On the. morning of June 3, 194.2? a Japanese str;k-g. force mo.v.in"g. on Mmwa was sigbte'd, by a Navy .patiwrt plane. hinU based B-17's bombed the Hfeet from high altitude in the afternoon with out success. The U.S. fleet was off Midway But Its presence was not known to the Japa nese. The Japanese force, un der command of Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, steamed on under the assumption that Midwaey was sparsely defended. Early on June 4, Japanese planes from fowr carnicas in the advance striking force launched a bomb attack on Miflway. But a Navy PEW pa.trnl plane, slfddnuing. thv flc'l, radioed a warning. Every plane at MftUva utas airborne when l-he Japmnesc altatk came and tt was incon sequential. Thirty attaching, plants were shot down, Amea- ican losses included 17 plarifcs aesiroyea ana seven aamagea Adm. Raymond A. Spru- ance, U.S. task force com 3 O VV J, K ?il ? J' & '. --nX- 'irii iu' jti Vf ;JlU LISTING BADLY Already listing badly, the aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown, receives a direct hit by a Japanese bomb during the battle of Midway in this UPI picture from "a,.-. 7." zte x files. Black puffs from exploding anti-aircraft shells dot the sky. Today is the 20th anniversary of the most decisive Naval en gagement of World War II. (UPI) mandcr, ordered his carrier pilots to throw the book at the Japanese fleet, especially the carriers. Torpedo planes, dive bombers and fighters swept otf the carriers York twn, Enterprise and Hornet. Aeoul noon, planes from the Yorktown and Enterprise sietcl three Japanese cur riers - the huue Akagi an" Kaiga o4 the medium-size; Ssryw - In a tifcit cluster. Tke Yorlttsws planes fin sesl a cssFsM-aaleil alac4c with ttie olticr, slower-flytng tor pedo plartes coming w lw under a fighter cover wtaile the dive bombers attacked from overhead. Bat. the tim ing was off, and tUe torpesto planes, despHe flglnter prelec tion, were annihilated about 38 Japanese Sena Ui terceplors. Only eae t!se 12 U.S. tnnpciW ilr---, swr vlved. Tice Arim. Jin .--HI ia-?li, v cowawrVr t-4ie ati-SKlrriKr enranMrn-il m ttae Pciic, vim k cni IHH.9VI 4 the six fiyik"rs which Hew wife Wie treil! ylaivw thail rtay. "W'c lei-JL !wyii( 1 frpV owr lwrica )i4ocs," k-c mi in a rficcrW. Interview with a UPI correspondent at hft. Pearl Ha&bor headquarters. "We could sec ttiat some would never get out again, but they kept right on. Not a single pilot turned away, "(LI. Cmdr.) Lcn Massey, leading the torpedo planes, went down in flames in the first pass, but one of his planes pulled in to take his place and lead the formation on. We (the fighters) were burning a few Zeroes and they were chewing up our torpedo planes. "I'm convinceck I saw one of our Yorktown torpedo planes get a hit on the car riers, even though it was rever recorded in the ofUcial recerds." While the Urpedo planes wwre drawing withering fire, the t!ve komkecs launched their aeswoiH vh-taaily wnop Hsed. Hear Atftma. Riwel F. Les I (Oet.), theva a lie t ei-ifrtir d in comm4Ml of the dive bamtoer stfuodro Irm the Yrk-tnva, iorsoJ ly led t)ye lie th ht)(V? cwrier Ka4). "I iaeuvTccrf my siuW rnn into a itKi whic-k itwW enakiV? us t make our riive out of the sun," Leslie tVI a UPI reporter at his Corcwwwio, Calif., hwne. "I otutc t!-e attack sWjwl . 1 . anil startcl dke hrmt 14.5(V feet. Tlje tangri waB about Wife btggfst. have ever Seen." i" ;;.A - V.I'-' fr?; Vf, . V ' . "! . W't i i c1 2sd CRUISER SMOULDERS-A Japanese heavy finest carriers and one heavy cruiser in the cruiser of the Mogami class is a smoulder- battle, which was the most decisive Naval ing, blackened wreck after being blasted by engagement of World Wfr II. (UPI from carrier-based planes during the battle of files) Midway. The Japanese lost four o their Leslie said he dived straight at the 27,000-ton Kaga and sprayed its flight deck and bridge structure with 300 or 400 rounds of 50-caliber ma chine gun fire. His bomb had been lost prematurely be cause of a malfunction in .a recently - installed electronic release system. Lclies said his wingman, then Lt. CJ.G.) Paul A. Holm berg, scored a direct hit on the Kaga's flight deck. "As history will record," Leslie said, "Holmberg de livered the first effective blow in the battle. His bomb caused the most terrifying holocaust 1 could possibly imagine. "In fairly quick succession, I observed three or four simi lar exalo.-eons on the same carrier. This was a remark able performance . . . the I Kacti was moving about 25 knots and taking evasive ac-1 tion. Hitting a target like this j is about as difficult as drop-; pint a marble from eye height i on a fast-moving cockroach." j 1 I 4 fT' ".V "Ml-. 4W it . - r fev b i -r -t ' ...WITH ONE GS UNIT AII-Yaar"Alr Conditioning Enjoy wonderful winter WARMTH with GAS air conditioning., nd when those hot summer days arrive, the t;n cf M O il will provide COOL springlike weather throughout your home. ..Yes, CK unit will: HEAT and COOL DEHUMIDIFY CIRCULATE and VENTILATE FILTER Install a SUN VALLE.Y All-Vr;r conditioner. ..the unit With no moving parts, assuring lonq lifn nnd low maintenance coste...th unit that operate iCCSCMiCALLY. with OAS. lUMJUOt W plan and luptrviie the initjIUtion with the cooperation of your heating contractor. Live modern.. .for less. ..with (An GAS CALIFORNIA-PACIFIC UTILITIES COMPANY .7.1llrIIJl:iJ,'NaL'IVVJHrnJ;M;,1 w 772-5281, MEDFORD 482-2116, ASHLAND Dive bombers from the Yorktown and Enterprise dropped a rain of fire on the Akagi (flagship of the Japa nese carrier division) and the leryu, lavitf IScti, liise the Kaga, fkrgcly burKisg tmi eanrrtts I ' t a watary grave. The U )"r is. uwuy saw end a Jaia6e U-a-Hteshie axil cruicr. TffOtcH roealkil te scam. "It vas tlos beet dive bomW iiN$ I had ever !Kom. There r. SfiKfM t. mrt mves," hn 90.W1. 'Trctty soon, the Zero at tacks li'fcin sleckceing off ani for tlw first time I began t thinl a.out reaybe getting out of it alive. "I locied around and could ;ce a few Zeroes above us awl one directly below. By this time, all three carriers were burning, with flames shooting to high peaks below us. If those Jap pilots couldn't apt to another undamaged car carrier they were doomed and they knew it. "There was another car rier - the Hiryu - but we hadn't found it yet. In any case, the Jap fliers seemed stunned, and soon melted away." Round one was a clear-cut j victory for the numcriciej!" in (crior Americans. But the I Jaoane.se wore to get their lieks in, ton. As the three Japanese carriers burned, the fourth, the Hiryu, launched a dive bomber attack on the' U.S. carrier Yorktown. Rear Adm. Oscar Pcderson (Ret.), now a Wall St. invest ment advisor, commanded the Yorktown air group. "We told our dive bombers approaching to land to get j clear of the ship." Pederson i said. "I ordered our fighter cover planes to intercept the : Jan olanes. i "They shot down about half i of the 18 Jan bombers ap ' proaching us. Eight g o t j through, two of which were shot down by guns on niir supporting cruisers and des troyers." The remaining attackers, i Pederson said, scored three hits on the Yorktown. which had been damaged severely a j few weeks earlier in the hat ; tie of the Coral Sea. i "One ihonih) struck the flight deck and went through to the hangar deck." Peder son said "A second hit in the i forward part of the ship, start ! ing fires adiaccnt to the gaso I line tanks and (ammunition) magazines. "The third bomb exploded in the smoke stack amidship. i disabling two engine boilers i and snuffing out the fire in ' five of the other six boilers." Pederson said the Yorktown was making 30 knots during Ihc attack but the damage re duced its speed lo six knots. In about 20 minutes, the dis abled carrier Inst all power. ; Rear Adm Frank Fletcher, commander of one nf the two task forces, moved his flag lo the cruiser Astoria. The Yorktown crew con trolled the fires and began making repairs. In a little more than an hour, four boil ers were back in service and the Yorktown achieved a speed of 18 knots. Then radar detected anoth er flight of Japanese planes 10 torpedo planes and six fighters. "The Jap planes were al most on top of us as we launched eight fighter planes," Pderson said. "The last of the eight was airborne no more than 20 seconds when it shot down a Jap plane. It was fantastic!" Pederson said four of the Japanese planes got close enough to the Yorktown to drop their torpedoes. They scored two hits and the huge carrier lost all power for the second time. The ship soon listed 26 de grees to port and was in dang er nf turning over. Capt. Elli ot Buckmaster gave the order to aba.idon ship. Pederson said the crew loft the ship in orderly fashion down ropes, fire hoses or whatever else was available. "The men automatically re moved their shoes because H is easier to swim without them," Pederson said. "As senier officer at the time in that irt of the ship, I was the last to go into the water. As I went over I was amazed to see about 300 pairs of shoes neatly lined up along the side of the ship." The Yorktown's dive bomb ers, ordered away when the attack egan, and its surviv ing fighters were diverted to the Enterprise and Hornet. Two hours after the tor pedo attack on the Yorktown, planes from the Enterprise some of them from the origi nal Yorktown squadron-found the Japanese carrier Hiryu and left it in flames. Planes from the Hornet attacked and damaged a battleship and cruiser escorting the Hiryti. The next day, planes from the Hornet and Enterprise at tacked two Japanese cruisers, and planes based at Midway attacked two other cruisers, crippling one. Poor visibility then curtailed air operation. On June 6, Planes from the Hornet located two more Jap anese heavy cruisers and three destroyers. Planes from the Enterprise struck the cruisers I Local Students Get i Service Certificates ! Two Mcdford students were among those receiving annual awards and recognition from the Willamette university stu-1 dent body recently. Lynn Hales. Medford, re ceived a senior key for out standing service to tile asso ! ciated student organisation. 1 I Joan Laurila, Medford, re- I ceived a senior certificate. j Arthritis, Rheumatism Vital Facts Explained mt DESCRIPTIVE BOOK A . public service to H read ers ot this pjoer, j new 36-curje hiohlv illustrated book on Arthri tis and Rheumatism v,ill be rr-.'.zd ABSOLUTELY FREE to all who write tor it No agent will call i This FREE BOOK (ullv eclairs the causes, ill-ettects and danger ' ! in neqlect of these painful and crippling conditions If also de ; scribes a successfully proven meth , od of treatment without drugs or 1 surqerv which has been apo'ied m manv thousands of cases j This book is vours WITHOUT ' i COST or obligation It mav be the I means of saving vears of untold I misery Don't delay. Send for vour FREE BOOK today Address The Bill Clm.r . . Dent 2sf19IU. Erekir Sprmns, Wo I .dv 1 a second blow and Hornet air craft, on a second sortee, at tacked two additional cruis ers. The Japanese fleet was in full retirement. The U. S. destroyer Ham mann took the severely crip pled Yorktown in tow and a salvage party was placed aboard. But in a third Japa nese attack, two more plane launched torpedoes ripped the Yorktown and one hit the Hammann. The destroyer sank within four minutes and .he Yorktown went down the next morning. The Battle of Midway was over. The Japanese lost four of their finest carriers and one heavy cruiser. Sut the most serious loss lo the imperial navy was its fighter pilots. Never again was Japan able to send such skillful, we 1 1 trained flyers against U. S. forces. In all, Japan lost 2 SO carrier planes. The U. S. Navy lost the car rier Yorktown and the de stroyer Hammann. Tn addi tion, 50 carrier pilots and 40 Army, Navy and Marine pi lots from Midway were killed. Another 50 air crewmenenon pilots) also died. A total of 151 aircraft was lost. "The Battle of Midway was without question the turning point in the Pacific war," wrote Rear Adm. Nobutasko Kondo, one of the highest ranking Japanese survivors at Midway who chonicle the entafi'mom yeers later. Well Drilling To Go into Effect June 1, 1962 to Meet " State Requirements OTICE Regular Mli.fit.i S3.5GV Rtalc MBt Hard! Rkfc Driliin;gS1 2.00 Casing IrnhM i &iftV FURTrldR IMFGRMAT-l'Sflil Wm RIESfUiBST Rsttay DfiWnig- &fk GrifeUo ft Mifo& Hewlett Weft BwI'N'wgt Crate Wcfl Bw4flrfji Rnvgwe VaMiey lViW)migi M-tyim WeM iIli-mgi BtoLaip Weil IDr-iililu'iKij) C. A. mAttka&a Dw'IllKwft & Sfc'WiI'fc Bros. WeM Ofi-I'M , e, mlif eee Wf- aMU ! I a . i'll iS9a, ; ml Ml'iiiW If I Mjij) Boy Vour- Iwjr- , Let Us Help You With Your Home Financing EASY TO HANDLE TERMS TO FIT YOUR BUDGET STOP IN REAL SOON! JACKSON COUNTY FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSN. Home Office - 2 East Main, Medford Ashland Branch - 337 East Main, Ashland
