The Battle of Midway (75 page)

8
. Interview of S. G. Mitchell (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 16–17.

9
. George Gay interview (no date), World War II Interviews, Operational Archives, NHHC, box 11; Gay,
Sole Survivor
, 59; Mrazek,
Dawn Like Thunder
, 13–14, 86–87; Kernan,
Unknown Battle of Midway
, 64–67. Kernan quotes Waldron’s letter to his nephew on p. 68.

10
. Interview of Ben Talbot, Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 8; Lundstrom,
First Team
, 324.

11
. Interview of S. G. Mitchell (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 17–18; Waldron’s effort to get a single fighter to fly with his squadron is in Gay,
Sole Survivor
, 115.

12
. “Pertinent Extracts from Communications Logs Relative to Midway Attack,” Action Reports, reel 2; John B. Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006), 245–46. With Browning as his chief of staff, Halsey had used a deferred departure in his attacks in the Marshalls and Wake. Fletcher had used a normal departure in the Coral Sea.

13
. Lewis Hopkins interview, NMPW, 17; Gee, “Remembering Midway.”

14
. Frederick Mears,
Carrier Combat
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday Doran, 1944), 18; Interview of Walt Rodee (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 2; Stanhope Ring, letter of March 28, 1946, in Bruce R. Linder, “Lost Letter of Midway,”
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
125, no. 8 (August 1999), 31; interview of Ben Tappan (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 46.

15
. The fuel use numbers come from the interview of J. E. McInerny (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 24, 37; Smith,
Midway, Dauntless Victory
, 75; Bowen P. Weisheit,
The Last Flight of Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Junior, USNR, Battle of Midway, June 4, 1942
(Baltimore: Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Jr., Memorial Foundation, 1993), 5; interview of S G. Mitchell (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 17; interview of LT James E. Vose by Barrett Tillman (June 1973), quoted in Tillman,
Dauntless Dive Bomber
, 68.

16
. Mitscher to Nimitz, June 13, 1942, Action Reports, reel 3, also available at
www.history.navy.mil/docs/wwii/mid5.htm
. The most telling piece of evidence that the
Hornet’s
air group flew a course of 265 is that Walt Rodee, commander of the scouting squadron (and later an admiral), wrote the course down in his log book. Still, not all of the contemporary testimony points to a course of 265. Ring’s wingman, Clayton Fisher, remained adamant that they flew a course of 240. See Fisher,
Hooked
, 80–81, and Russell,
No Right to Win
, 134, 140.

17
. John Lundstrom asserts that Mitscher made a deliberate decision “to go after the supposed second, trailing group of two Japanese carriers” in part because he was “contemptuous of the lack of aviation expertise of Fletcher and Spruance.” Posting
to BOMRT, July 30, 2009. I am grateful to John Lundstrom for our conversations about this enigmatic event.

18
. Nimitz to Commander Striking Force, May 28, 1942, Action Reports, reel 3, p. 3. The passage from Jurika’s intelligence briefing is from the diary of E. T. “Smokey” Stover, Stover and Reynolds,
Saga of Smokey Stover
, 29 (entry of June 7). Fletcher’s message to Spruance is quoted in Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral
, 248. The Ring letter of March 28, 1946, is in Bruce R. Linder, “Lost Letter of Midway,”
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
125, no. 8 (August 1999), 31. It is interesting that both Mitscher and Ring employed the passive voice in their statements: Mitscher noted that the course “was calculated” and Ring notes that departure “was taken.” Of course the passive voice was (and is) common in Navy documents, where special requests are worded: “It is requested that.…”

19
. Gay,
Sole Survivor
, 116. In his memoir, Gay has Waldron telling him that he was planning to go “more to the north.” This comports with Mitscher’s report, which has Ring flying to the southwest and Waldron heading off to the north to find the Kidö Butai. Very likely, however, Gay relied on Mitscher’s report to assist his memory thirty-seven years after the fact and adjusted the language of the remembered conversation to fit the report.

20
. Interview of Troy Guillory (March 14, 1983), 28, 23; and Ben Tappan (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts.” The last response from Waldron is rendered here as a combination of what Tappan and Guillory recalled.

21
. Interview of J. E. McInerny (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 7; Weisheit,
Last Flight
, 17–18.

22
. Interview of S. G. Mitchell (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 24. See also Mrazek,
Dawn Like Thunder
, 132.

23
. Interview of J. E. McInerny (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 11, 13.

24
. Enclosure (H) to Hornet Serial 0018 dated June 13, 1942, by Leroy Quillen, radioman/gunner for Ensign K. B. White, in VB-8, Action Reports, reel 2. Quillen remembered the initial call as “Johnny One to Johnny Two,” but others recalled it as “Stanhope from Johnny One,” which is more logical under the circumstances.

25
. 1926
Lucky Bag
, USNA; Gee, “Remembering Midway,” 4; interview of Troy Guillory (March 14, 1983), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 26; Robert Johnson to Walter Lord, Feb. 21, 1967, Walter Lord Collection, NHHC, box 17.

26
. Gee, “Remembering Midway”; Ring letter of March 28, 1946, in Linder, “Lost Letter,” 32. Clay Fisher, Ring’s designated wingman, sought to stay with him, but Ring had sent him to deliver a visual message to Rodee, and after VS-6 turned, Risher was unable to find Ring again. See Fisher,
Hooked
, 80.

27
. Weisheit,
Last Flight
, 28–29.

28
. Interview of S. G. Mitchell (1981), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 10–11.

29
. “Battle of Midway, Rescues Performed by PBY’s,”
PBY Memorial Association Newsletter
41, May 2002; interview of Jerry Crawford (Aug. 28, 1984), Weisheit, “Transcripts,” 7.

1
. George Gay recalled later how the moon was centered in the middle of his cowling during the flight, and, based on that and the position of the moon that day, Bowen
Wiesheit subsequently calculated that he was flying a course of 234 degrees. See George Gay,
Sole Survivor: The Battle of Midway and Its Effects on His Life
(Naples, FL: Naples Ad/Graphics, 1979), 117; Bowen P. Weisheit,
The Last Flight of Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Junior, USNA, Battle of Midway, June 4, 1942
(Baltimore: Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Jr., Memorial Foundation, 1993), 14. Weisheit’s “plot of moon bearings” on June 4, 1942, is on p. 69.

2
. On Larsen, see Robert J. Mrazek,
A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight
(New York: Little, Brown, 2008), 25–31; on Owens, see Gay,
Sole Survivor
, 97.

3
. “Memorandum for the Commander in Chief,” June 7, 1942, Action Reports, reel 2; Gay,
Sole Survivor
, 119.

4
. Robert J. Cressman et al.,
“A Glorious Page in Our History”: The Battle of Midway,4–6 June 1942
(Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories, 1990), 91; Jonathan B. Parshall and Anthony P. Tully,
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
(Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005), 205.

5
. Gay,
Sole Survivor
, 119; “Memorandum for the Commander in Chief,” Action Reports, reel 2; Parshall and Tully,
Shattered Sword
, 207.

6
. Gay,
Sole Survivor
, 120–21. Waldron’s radio broadcasts were overheard by ARM3/c Leroy Quillen of VB-8 and reported in “Enclosure (H) to Hornet Serial 0018 dated June 13, 1942,” in Action Reports, reel 2.

7
. Frederick Mears,
Carrier Combat
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran, 1944), xiv; “Enclosure (H) to Hornet Serial 0018 dated June 13, 1942,” in Action Reports, reel 2; Gay,
Sole Survivor
, 121.

8
. Gay,
Sole Survivor
, 108.

9
. Ibid., 121,125.

10
. Ibid., 125, 128–29; “George Gay’s Fisheye View of Midway,”
Naval Aviation News
64, no. 6 (June 1982), 18–21.

11
. Gay,
Sole Survivor
, 128–29. Gay later claimed that he remained in the middle of the Kidö Butai during the ensuing battle. Time-motion studies by Parshall and Tully and by Dallas Isom have suggested that this was unlikely.

12
. 1927
Lucky Bag
, USNA; Robert E. Barde interview of Wade McClusky (June 30, 1966), quoted in Barde, “The Battle of Midway: A Study in Command,” (Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 1971), 176; Clarence Wade McClusky, “The Midway Story,” unpublished manuscript in the Gordon Prange Papers, UMD, box 17. See Also Edward P. Stafford,
The Big E: The Story of the USS Enterprise
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002), 78.

13
. Interview of Clarence Wade McClusky (June 30, 1966) by Gordon Prange, Prange Papers, UMD, box 17.

14
. I am grateful to John Lundstrom for helping me unravel this launch sequence.

15
. Gray to McClusky, June 8, 1942, Action Reports, reel 3; McClusky, “Midway Story”; Cressman et al.,
Glorious Page
, 86–87.

16
. Gray’s recollection of Browning’s instructions is from remarks Gray made at a 1988 Midway symposium and are quoted by Alvin Kernan in
The Unknown Battle of Midway: The Destruction of the American Torpedo Squadrons
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005), 137; the discussion between Gray and Ely is in CAPT James S.
Gray, “Decision at Midway,” USNA Museum, also available as part of the BOMRT archive at
www.midway42.org/aa-reports/vf-6.html
.

17
. Gray, “Decision at Midway.”

18
. Ibid.

19
. Laub to McClusky, June 4, 1942, Action Reports, reel 3.

20
. The fellow pilot was Dick Best in an interview with Walter Lord (April 13, 1966), in Lord Collection, NHHC, box 18.

21
. Ibid.; Cressman et al.,
Glorious Page
, 94–95; Parshall and Tully,
Shattered Sword
, 213. Gray’s remarks were made at a 1988 conference in Pensacola and are quoted in Kernan,
Unknown Battle of Midway
, 138. Gray’s radio report is quoted in John B. Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006), 256–57.

22
. Laub to McClusky, June 4, 1942, Action Reports, reel 3; Barde, “Battle of Midway,” 179.

23
. Barde, “Battle of Midway,” 183–87.

24
. See the various naval messages from Midway to CINCPAC, plus CINCPAC to Task Force Commanders, all dated June 4 from 8:20 a.m. to 11:01 a.m., in Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8. As late as the afternoon of June 5, Midway was still reporting to Nimitz, “Our patrols have seen only two carriers.” By then, however, there were no carriers, since all four had been sunk. I thank John Lundstrom for directing my attention to these messages.

25
. Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral
, 249–50. Pederson is quoted on p. 249.

26
. Steve Ewing and John B. Lundstrom,
Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O’Hare
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 93; 1927
Lucky Bag
, USNA,

27
. Thach oral history (Nov. 6, 1970), 230–31, U.S. Naval Institute Oral History Collection, USNA.

28
. Pederson to Buckmaster, May 16, 1942, Action Reports, reel 2; Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral
, 249; Lundstrom,
The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1984), 340.

29
. Esders was very specific in noting that he sighted the smoke of the Kidö Butai at 9:33, though Machinist Harry Corl, in his report, said it was at 10:00 a.m. Since LCDR Shumway also put the sighting at 10:00, and claims he called Massey at 10:20, the later time is probably more accurate. The reports of Esders and Corl are available at the BOMRT website:
www.midway42.org/aa-reports/vt3-esders.pdf
and
www.midway42.org/aa-reports/vt3-corl.pdf
. The radio exchange between Max Leslie and Lem Massey is in Shumway’s squadron report, June 10, 1942, Action Reports, reel 3. The Devastator pilot was Esders, quoted in Stuart D. Ludlum,
They Turned the War Around at Coral Sea and Midway: Going to War with Yorktowns Air Group Five
(Bennington, VT: Merriam, 2000), 113.

30
. Commanding Officer Yorktown Air Wing (Pederson), June 14, 1942, Action Reports, reel 2.

31
. Lundstrom,
First Team
, 351–56; Parshall and Tully,
Shattered Sword
, 223–25.

32
. John S. Thach oral history (Nov. 6, 1970), 1:245–46, U.S. Naval Institute Oral History Collection, USNA; Machinist Harry Corl Report, June 15, 1942, available
at
www.midway42.org/aa-reports/vt3-corl.pdf
; correspondence of Lloyd Childers to BOMRT, Nov. 8, 2004.

33
. Thach oral history (Nov. 6, 1970), 1:248; Lundstrom,
First Team
, 355.

34
. Report W. G. Esders, June 6, 1942, Action Reports, reel 3.

1
. Nimitz to King, June 28, 1942, Action Reports, reel 3. Also available at
www.history.navy.mil/docs/wwii/mid1.htm
.

2
. 1927
Lucky Bag
, USNA.

3
. William H. Brockman, Jr., “U.S.S. Nautilus, Narrative of 4 June 1942,” Action Reports, reel 3. Hereafter “Nautilus Narrative.” Also available at
www.hnsa.org/doc/subreports.htm
.

4
. Ibid.

5
. John Campbell,
Naval Weapons of World War Two
(London: Conway Maritime, 1985), 89.