71 Years Ago

[Willy]

June 4th 1942. The Douglas SBD Dauntless showed it's worth by taking out 4 Japanese carriers at Midway. Payback for Pearl Harbor began.

[Jagdflieger]

The best book that I've read on the topic is "Shattered Sword." Simply outstanding and hard to put down once you start it.

[robert41]

Yes, a great victory for the Allies, but a lot of hard fighting still to come.

[beana51]

The MILITARY CHANNEL shows the complete battle on Film..On Site Film,..Oten with interviews of the surviving Participants...On Both side.as to making this a not forgotten impact..Its .Often repeated...

[huub vink]

On the 4th of June 1940 Winston Churchill held his famous "We will fight them on the beaches" speech in the House of Commons. When the UK would have fallen it would become nearly impossible to liberate Europe from the West.

[stuartcox]

A TV film about the beach landings is being shot on one of our local beaches this week. (Camber Sands).
Just a shame that I can't get close to the location as it is cordoned off.
I saw some footage on the local news though, and loads of old WWII vehicles, including the US, and uniforms around...
TA805 the Kent Spitfire will depart Biggin Hill tomorrow at 0800 to fly to France and land at Caen. She will then fly over several of the D-Day commemorations and tributes going on in Normandy.

[SSI01]

One day, while I was stationed in HI, I was with a friend on NAVSTA Pearl Harbor when we found ourselves outside what I believe is the oldest and largest wooden structure on the post - what used to be HQ CINCPAC in WWII. At one end of the building are a series of pillars holding up the 2nd floor balcony, that runs completely around the building. On one of the pillars, which are square, was a small bronze plaque placed next to a door built into the pillar. The plaque had a rather generic inscription on its face saying the cellar was the former location of the radio intelligence unit (FRUPAC - Fleet Radio Unit Pacific) commanded by Joe Rochefort, which was reading all of the IJN radio traffic (JN-25) for Nimitz. Fortunately the door was not locked, so he and I descended the short staircase and passed through the (former) guard post and sally port at the bottom, plus another (formerly) secure door. From there we were in the actual cellar where, I believe it is safe to argue, WWII in the Pacific was decided. The tile was still on the floor and the outlines of the various machines were plainly visible in old wax, etc. on the tile. Some of the machine sites still had their connections coming up out of the floor. At the time of Midway, the old trans-Pacific cable from the West Coast to the Philippines had been severed. The link to the West Coast was out, but for some reason the link to Wake Island was open, despite it being occupied by the Japanese. This was used periodically for fun by staff in the radio intel unit to bat out an obscenity to Wake and get some angry-sounding morse snapping back. I found myself wondering which of those cables was that connection. Despite its then rather decrepit appearance (a shame, given the momentous events that were set in motion based on information obtained in this room) the atmosphere was still enough to fire the imagination. You could look around in the light of a couple of dim, unshaded bulbs and imagine the teletypes clacking away, telephones jangling, typewriters clicking, and the discussions and debates occurring all around you, only many years in the past. Men lived or died and the fates of nations turned based on the information obtained in that room. The sensation is difficult to describe.

[PRB]

Holy crap SSI01! That story gives me goose bumps. That's amazing.

For another "Must Read" on this battle, try Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, by John B. Lundstrom. Basically, Lundstrom thinks Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher has gotten a "bum wrap" from history, and in this book he makes his case, and makes it well. There is much (much) discussion on Midway, and it's very interesting indeed.

[SSI01]

It does give you some feelings difficult to describe, standing in that room.

If you want to read about someone who had a major influence on the battle, and has been the subject of debate since that time, find anything you can on CAPT Miles Browning. I guarantee fascinating reading about Midway, and his role there. There is somewhere on the web a copy of a monograph he wrote some years after the battle, and released after his death, describing certain events he said occurred in a particular fashion and sequence, and which are at direct variance :pop4:with those of other participantss who remembered differently.

Fascinating reading.