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
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?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
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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
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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.
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