The Battle of Midway (70 page)

9
. Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral
, 53.

10
. J.J. Clark, with Clark G. Reynolds,
Carrier Admiral
(New York: McKay, 1967), 78; Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral
, 55.

11
. John B. Lundstrom,
The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1984), 51.

12
. Harold L. Buell,
Dauntless Helldivers: A Dive-Bomber Pilot’s Epic Story of the Carrier Battles
(New York: Orion Books, 1991); Barrett Tillman,
The Dauntless Dive Bomber of World War II
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1976); Cressman et al.,
Glorious Page
, 206.

13
. The quotations are from ENS Clayton Fisher, who flew in VB-8, “The SBD in Combat,” BOMRT, available at
http://www.midway42.org/fisher-sbd.htm
, See also Buell,
Dauntless Helldivers
, 61.

14
. The pilot was Max Leslie, skipper of VB-3 on
Yorktown
, in Leslie to Smith, Dec. 15, 1964, Prange Papers, UMD, box 17. Bill Burch made the same analogy. See 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), 86.

15
. N. J. “Dusty” Kleiss, “Remembrance of a Rear-Seater,” BOMRT, posted April 27, 2007,
http://www.midway42.org/vets-kleiss.html
; Richard Best interview (Aug. 11, 1995), NMPW, 16; Cressman et al.,
Glorious Page
, 209.

16
. Richard Best interview (Aug. 11, 1995), NMPW, 25; Frederick Mears,
Carrier Combat
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran, 1944), 22; Clayton E. Fisher, “Officer and Enlisted Airmen,” BOMRT,
The Roundtable Forum
, issue 2010–15, April 10, 2010.

17
. John S. Thach oral history (Nov. 6, 1970), U.S. Naval Institute Oral History Collection, USNA, 1:231; Richard Best interview (Aug. 11, 1995), NMPW, 18.

18
. John Campbell,
Naval Weapons of World War Two
(London: Conway Maritime, 1985), 206; Mears,
Carrier Combat
, xv.

19
. Captain P. R. White, USN, June 6, 1942, Action Reports, reel 3.

20
. Masatake Okumiya and Jiro Horikoshi, with Martin Caidin,
Zero! The Story of the Japanese Navy Air Force, 1937–1945
(London: Cassell, 1957).

21
. Barrett Tillman,
Wildcat:The F4F in WWII
, 2nd ed. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990); William Wolf,
Victory Roll! The American Fighter Pilot and Aircraft in World War II
(Atglen, PA: Schiffer Books, 2001), 38; John S. Thach oral history (Aug. 26, 1942); Cressman et al.,
Glorious Page
, 209.

22
. Edward P. Stafford,
The Big E: The Story of the USS Enterprise
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002), 46, 54; Lundstrom,
First Team
, 63.

23
. Lundstrom,
First Team
, 55–56.

24
. Mears,
Carrier Combat
, 18.

25
. The statistics are from Lundstrom,
First Team
, Appendix 6, “List of U.S. Navy Fighter Pilots,” 490–95; Stephen Jurika oral history (Dec. 3, 1975), U.S. Naval Institute Oral History Collection, USNA, 1:171. Buell, in
Dauntless Helldivers
(28–29) tells the story of one American flight instructor who was chastised for being too tough in his standards.

26
. Buell,
Dauntless Helldivers
, 27.

27
. Mears,
Carrier Combat
, 20; Clayton E. Fisher,
Hooked: Tales and Adventures of a Tailhook Warrior
(Denver: Outskirts, 2009), 27.

28
. Wolf,
Victory Roll
, 21–24.

29
. Mears,
Carrier Combat
, 25. See also Lundstrom,
First Team
, 490–95.

30
. Paolo E. Coletta,
Bald Eagle: Admiral Marc A. Mitscher and U.S. Naval Aviation
(Lewiston, NY: Mellen, 1997), 107; Ludlum,
They Turned the War Around
, 10; Richard Best interview (Aug. 11, 1995), NMPW, 31.

1
. The quotation is from King to Frank Knox, Feb. 8, 1942, King Papers, NHHC, Series I, box 1. Curtin’s concerns are reflected in a memo from Casey to King, Jan. 26, 1942, King Papers, NHHC, Series I, box 1. See also Ernest J. King and Walter Muir Whitehill,
Fleet Admiral King: A Naval Record
(New York: Norton, 1952), 373; Samuel Eliot Morison,
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II
, vol. 3,
Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931–April 1942
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1948), 259–60; John B. Lundstrom,
The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1984), 56–57; and Stephen D. Regan,
In Bitter Tempest: The Biography of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
(Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1994), 85.

2
. Nimitz to King, and King to Nimitz, both dated Jan. 5, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 1:139–40.

3
. King to Nimitz, Jan. 20, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 1:179; Running Summary, Jan. 21 and 23, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 1:158, 183. See John B. Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006), 59–62.

4
. Edward P. Stafford,
The Big E: The Story of the USS Enterprise
(Annapolis, MD: Naval institute Press, 2002), 44; William F. Halsey and J. Bryan III,
Admiral Halsey’s Story
(New York: Whittlesey House, 1947), 89.

5
. Fletcher’s op order, dated Jan. 25, 1942, is in Action Reports, reel 2. See also Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral
, 65–67.

6
. Lundstrom,
First Team
, 78; Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral
, 65–67; 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), 25–26.

7
. Pederson to Buckmaster, Feb. 5, 1942, Action Reports, reel 2; Ludlum,
They Turned the War Around
, 27.

8
. Lundstrom,
First Team
, 79; Ludlum,
They Turned the War Around
, 27. Jocko Clark later criticized Fletcher for not spending more time to search for the downed pilots. J. J. Clark, with Clark G. Reynolds,
Carrier Admiral
(New York: David McKay, 1967), 85.

9
. Lundstrom,
First Team
, 78–80; Ludlum,
They Turned the War Around
, 29.

10
. Lundstrom,
First Team
, 65–66; Richard Best interview (Aug. 11, 1995), NMPW, 13.

11
. Stafford,
Big E
, 49.

12
. Lundstrom,
First Team
, 66.

13
. Halsey to Nimitz, Feb. 7, 1942, Action Reports, reel 1.

14
. Stafford,
Big E
, 47–50; Lundstrom,
First Team
, 67–69.

15
. Stafford,
Big E
, 50.

16
. Stafford,
Big E
, 51; Richard Best interview (Aug. 11, 1995), NMPW, 27.

17
. Stafford,
Big E
, 51–52.

18
. McCluskey to CEAG, and Massey to CEAG, both Feb. 2, 1942, and Halsey to Nimitz, Feb. 9, 1942, all in Action Reports, reel 1; Halsey and Bryan,
Admiral Halsey’s Story
, 92; Stafford,
The Big E
, 51–54; Morison,
Rising Sun
, 262–63.

19
. Best to CEAG, Feb. 2, 1942, Action Reports, reel 1; Richard Best interview (Aug. 11, 1995), NMPW, 28.

20
. Stafford,
The Big E
, 56–57; Halsey and Bryan,
Admiral Halsey’s Story
, 93.

21
. Stafford,
The Big E
, 56–57.

22
. Murray to Halsey, Feb. 2, 1942, Action Reports, reel 1; Halsey to Brown, Feb. 7, 1942, Map room files, FDRL, box 41; Halsey and Bryan,
Admiral Halsey’s Story
, 94; Stafford,
Big E
, 58; Lundstrom,
First Team
, 74. Gaido tried to keep his identity a secret, but Halsey found out who he was and promoted him on the spot to aviation machinist’s mate first class. Gaido was subsequently captured by the Japanese during the Battle of Midway and executed. See
chapter 15
.

23
. Lundstrom,
First Team
, 75.

24
. Halsey to Nimitz, Feb. 9, 1942, Action Reports, reel 1; Halsey and Bryan,
Admiral Halsey’s Story
, 96; Stafford,
Big E
, 58–59.

25
. Fletcher to Nimitz, Feb. 9, 1942, Action Reports, reel 1.

26
. King to Nimitz, Jan. 27, 1942, Nimitz to King, Jan. 29 and 31, 1942, and King to Nimitz, Feb. 15, 1942, all in Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:204–6.

27
. Russell D. Buhite and David W. Levy, eds.,
FDR’s Fireside Chats
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 209; King to FDR, March 5, 1942, King Papers, NHHC, Series I, box 2; Running Summary, Feb. 9 and Feb. 11, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:211, 213.

28
. Brown’s operation order for the Rabaul raid is in the Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:541–42; Brown’s report to Nimitz that he was withdrawing due to an “acute fuel shortage” is COMTASKFOR 11 (Brown) to CINCPAC (Nimitz), Feb. 20, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 1:250. See also H. P. Willmott,
The Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies, February to June 1942
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1983), 56.

29
. Brown to Nimitz, Feb. 20, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:250; Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral
, 21.

30
. Louis Brown,
A Radar History of World War II: Technical and Military Imperatives
(Bristol, UK: Institute of Physics, 1999).

31
. Steve Ewing and John B. Lundstom,
Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O’Hare
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 127.

32
. Ewing and Lundstrom,
Fateful Rendezvous
, 130–31;Lundstrom,
First Team
, 101–4, 106, 107.

33
. Lundstrom,
First Team
, 104–5.

34
. John S. Thach oral history (Nov. 6, 1970), 1:284.

35
. Brown to Nimitz, Feb. 20 and 23, 1942; Nimitz to Task Force Commanders, Feb. 25, 1942; Brown to Nimitz, Feb. 26, 27, and 28, 1942; and Nimitz to King, Feb. 28, 1942, all in Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:253, 255, 256, 257; Morison,
Rising Sun
, 267.

36
. Running Summary, Feb. 12, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:214; Halsey and Bryan,
Admiral Halsey’s Story
, 97–98.

37
. Nimitz to Halsey, Feb. 25, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:543; Halsey and Bryan,
Admiral Halsey’s Story
, 98; Richard Best interview (Aug. 11, 1995), NWPW, 30; Lundstrom,
First Team
, 117–19.

38
. On March 18, FDR wrote Churchill: “Australia must be held and, as I telegraphed you, we are willing to do that. India must be held and you must do that.” FDR to Churchill, March 18, 1942, in
Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence
, ed. Francis Loewenheim et al. (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1975), 268–69.

39
. King to Leary, Feb. 12, 1942, King Papers, NHHC, Series I, box 1; King to FDR, Feb. 12, 1942, King Papers, NHHC, Series I, box 1. See also John Costello,
The Pacific War, 1941–1945
(New York: Rawson, Wade, 1981; reprint New York: Harper Perennial, 2002), 203. Nimitz had suggested Pye for the job, but FDR vetoed the idea.

40
. King to Leary and Leary to King, Feb. 17, 1942, King Papers, NHHC, Series I, box 1.

41
. Nimitz’s remarks about securing Australia are in a “Briefed Estimate of the Situation,” Feb. 5, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:233; Nimitz’s reply to King’s proposal to maintain two carriers in the south is Nimitz to King, Feb. 25, 1942, and King’s reply dated Feb. 26, both in Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:256, 545.

42
. Running Summary, Feb. 26, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:246.

43
. King to Nimitz, and Brown to Nimitz, both Feb. 26, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, 8:242, 244, 255.

44
. Lundstrom,
First Team
, 124–27.

45
. Running Summary, Feb. 23 and 25, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:243–44, 245; Ludlum,
They Turned the War Around
, 37–38; Morison,
Rising Sun
, 387–89; Lundstrom,
First Team
, 131; Roosevelt to Churchill, March 17, 1942, in
Churchill and Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence
, ed. Warren F. Kimball (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 1:415–16.

46
. Nimitz to King, March 23, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:548; Lundstrom,
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral
, 96; Running Summary, March 11, 1942, Nimitz Papers, NHHC, box 8:267. Captain James M. Steele replaced McCormick as the keeper of the Running Summary in April.

47
. Willmott,
Barrier and Javelin
, 74–76.

1
. H. P. Willmott,
The Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies, February to June 1942
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1983), 15; John J. Stephan,
Hawaii under the Rising Sun: Japan’s Plans for Conquest after Pearl Harbor
(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984), 124.

2
. H. P. Willmott,
Empires in the Balance: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies to April 1942
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982), 436.

3
. Stephan,
Hawaii under the Rising Sun
, 96.

4
. Sadao Asada,
From Mahan to Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006), 171–72, 246–50.