8 January 2010
Issue Number: 2010-01
Our 13th Year
~ AROUND THE TABLE ~
MEMBERS’
TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Remembering Roy Gee
2. “Decision at Midway” by VF-6 C.O. James
Gray
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1. REMEMBERING ROY GEE
Ed. note: the passing of BOM vet Roy Gee was announced to all members by e-mail on January 4th. To see the tribute to him posted on our web site, click here.
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4 January
2010
From: SFC Edgar R. Fox, USA-Ret
Missouri
BOM vet,
Pvt., 6th MarDefBn, Midway
Roy was interested in my volunteer work in
school. When he head that I role-played the BOM in my class with blocks
of wood for ships, he sent me model ships and aircraft that I could use with
the kids to support my efforts.
Parents became involved with assisting their
students in the construction of the models that were proudly displayed during a
Veterans Day ceremony. Kids, parents and educators heard a good
hour-by-hour history about the BOM on that day, from students of the 4th
and 5th grades.
Kids do remember, especially the students of
Holland Elementary School in Springfield, Missouri, about the men who gave so
much during that most important event, 4 June 1942.
Thank you ever so much, Captain Gee. May you have "fair winds and following
seas."
Our school flag will fly half mast on January
8th in honor of Captain Roy Gee, USN.
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5 January
2010
From: Seth Peridon
Louisiana
Research
Services Manager, National World War II Museum
Roy Gee was one of
the many Midway veterans that I was lucky enough to get to know. I
conducted an interview with Roy in San Diego for the National WWII Museum
back in 2008. Roy was very accommodating and a gracious host. Roy
saw quite a bit of action in those scary early days in the Pacific war and was
truly one of the heroes that helped to stem the tide of the Japanese
onslaught. Roy Gee was a hero, and a great man. He was a true
gentleman and I am deeply saddened by his passing.
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7 January
2010
From: Nancy Mahi
Oregon
If
anyone epitomized the Greatest Generation, that man was Roy Gee. I first became acquainted with Roy through
the Roundtable in 2001 or 2002 when he posted a message about how he drove my
uncle's car from Norfolk, Virginia to Sheridan, Oregon in January of 1943.
My
uncle Grant Teats [VT-8 TBD pilot] had been killed in the BOM
and Roy drove his car to Oregon on the way to his next duty station in San
Diego. My grandparents and my
mother were thrilled to meet the Gees, and my grandmother was particularly
grateful to visit with Roy and hear stories of her only son. Grant had mentioned Roy many times in his
letters, which I now have. He
liked Roy very much.
After
Roy and I connected through the Roundtable, we had some
wonderful conversations, over the phone and by e-mail. It was an
incredible gift to talk to this kind man who had been my uncle's roommate and
friend. When my husband and I went to
the VT-8 reunion in San Diego in 2002, I learned that Roy's kindness
to my family hadn't ended. He presented
me with the most gorgeous shadow box one could imagine. He had obtained replacements for my uncle's
medals and ribbons which had been lost over the years. A Navy emblem is
at the top, with a pair of pilots’ wings underneath it. In the middle is a picture of my uncle
that Roy copied from the Internet, and at the bottom is a very
touching plaque. It has a proud place
in our home
I
will never forget Roy Gee. He will be
sorely missed.
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4 January
2010
From: Tom Fritz
Wisconsin
I’ve just finished
reading through Roy Gee’s biography as posted on the website. His was a
life of sacrifice and service to all Americans, for which we all should be
thankful. You were truly lucky to personally know this remarkable man.
He will be missed.
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2. “DECISION AT MIDWAY” by VF-6 C.O. James Gray ( see issue # 2010-48 )
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5 December
2009
From: Alvin B. Kernan
New Jersey
BOM vet,
AOM3/c, VT-6, USS Enterprise (CV-6)
A
conference on Midway was held in Pensacola in 1988. Late in the discussion, in the back, a tall man rose and asked
for the floor. What he said is
fascinating enough to be listened to at length:
“I’m Jim Gray. I was skipper of the
Enterprise fighters, and I’d like to put in a word or two about where were the
fighters in the Battle of Midway, if somebody would like to hear the answer to
that one. I’ve never had an opportunity
to explain what the fighters were doing, instead of being down amongst the
torpedo planes when they were getting shot down.”
[Moderator] “After 46 years, sir, you are now having your opportunity.”
[Gray] “The only experience we had to build on at Midway was the Coral
Sea. The torpedo planes went in safely,
the dive bombers and the fighters of the Coral Sea took a pasting. The squadron commander—I think Dick Best was
there [waving to the commander of Bombing 6 at Midway]—greetings, Dick, after
46 years—Wade McClusky, our group commander, Miles Browning, the staff
operations officer, said the best thing for the fighters to do, go to high
altitude so they could come down to the torpedo planes’ defense if they gave a
signal.
“Coming back from the Coral Sea, we didn’t get into the battle, but we were
down there. We were taken into Pearl
Harbor, and we traded in our [F4F-3] aircraft for F4F-4s. The F4F-4 had six machine guns, two more
than we were used to...had armor plate.
We didn’t have armor plate, except some homemade stuff we put in. And the self sealing tanks, hundreds of
pounds of extra weight added on.
“My squadron and aircraft, as I remember, circled over Torpedo Eight. I know they were Torpedo Eight because they
had 15 planes and I couldn’t find my other outfit, which was 13 [14 actually],
I believe. When we got to altitude,
there were no Zeros there; they had all gone down and not followed their
example of the Coral Sea.
“We were at about 20,000 feet. I
looked at my gas gauge, and expecting to see I had about a quarter of a tank
gone. Actually I had about a quarter of
a tank left. I started to fly in
1928. I soloed and got my license in
1930. One of the first things I learned
about flying in an airplane was only an idiot runs out of gas in an airplane. If I went down to mix it up, all of us would
have landed out of gas. I had enough
gas to get home, nothing more. So I
elected to go home and refuel.
Furthermore, the approach of Torpedo Eight was made, and I haven’t
talked to George Gay[the only survivor of Torpedo 8] about this....We lost the
Torpedo Eight people under the overcast, and that was the last I heard of them
and knew about it till I saw my gas gauge, and we got the hell out of there to
get gas. We went back, and we lived to
fight another day....We were up at altitude, and we ran ourselves out of gas
getting up there. Sorry about that.”
[Moderator] “Thank you, sir. We appreciate that.”
(U.S.
Naval Institute Professional Seminar Series, Battle of Midway and Its
Implications.)
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23 December
2009
From: Barrett Tillman
Arizona
author, Clash
of the Carriers, et al
I was somewhat acquainted
with Jim Gray—he contributed to my F4F book in the early 1980s. At that
time he emphasized the point he makes in his retrospective, that only a fool runs
an airplane out of gas. It was obviously a big factor in his aeronautical
education. (Understandably so!)
Then there's Dick Best. A very interesting specimen; he just loved the
“The Game.” I've never known anybody
else with that combination of attitudes. He said, “It was a great war,”
and he wanted to be in it start to finish.
Referring to Gray at Midway, Dick said, quote, “I was a fighter pilot before
the war, and the fighter pilot's job is to die getting the bombers to the
target.” As far as I know, they never talked. If they had, perhaps
Dick's attitude might have eased somewhat.
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~ NOW HEAR THIS! ~
NEWS
& INFO IN THIS ISSUE:
- VF-6 “War Record”
- Link of the Week
- Editor’s Notes
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VF-6 “WAR RECORD”
James Gray’s “Decision at Midway” was
featured in our last issue. In it, the
former squadron commander makes frequent reference to the “War Record” of VF-6,
an unofficial diary of the squadron’s operations and events from before the war
until shortly after the BOM. The War
Record is of interest for its accounting of every pilot and every sortie that
the squadron flew during that period.
Bill Vickrey sent in scans of the portion of the War Record
covering the BOM, which I offered to forward to anyone who asked. But long-time Roundtable member (and No
Right to Win collaborator) Allen Peisner offered to convert the images to
.pdf format for us, making them suitable for posting on the web site. He did so, and you can now find it next to
“Decision at Midway” in the After
Action Reports section of our site.
Like any .pdf file, you’ll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader or equivalent
in your computer, which just about everyone should have by now. If you don’t and need advice on how to get
it, click
here.
Many thanks to Bill and Allen for your help in bringing
another valued resource to the Roundtable.
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LINK OF THE WEEK
The Naval History and
Heritage Command (formerly Naval Historical Center, or NHC) now has a
convenient web page that provides links to all of the site’s BOM
references. It’s our Link of the Week
for this issue, and I’ve also added it to our own Links page, second item from the
top.
Click
here for the link of the week.
BZ to Ron Martell for the suggestion.
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EDITOR’S NOTES
~ Roundtable members are encouraged to post a
comment and sign the guest book for Roy Gee on the San Diego Union newspaper’s
obituaries page. To see Roy’s obituary
in the Union and to sign the guest book, click
here.
~ In “Decision at Midway,” James Gray made one
offhand remark that many may have missed but which has a certain historical
impact. Shattered Sword was
among the first (if not the first) BOM works that upset the
long-held view that the Japanese flight decks were crammed with strike aircraft
when the SBDs struck. Parshall and
Tully analyzed CAP launch and recovery data to draw a new conclusion, but
Gray’s eyewitness testimony is more direct:
“Through thin patches we could
occasionally see the wakes of some of the ships, and the one carrier that we
could see in the clear did not have planes on deck.”
~ James Bowens’ Pacific War Historical Society
web site has a new URL, http://www.pacificwar.org.au . The PWHC site is one of our favorite
resources for Coral Sea and BOM information, images, and veteran stories. I’ve updated the links to the site on our “Links” page accordingly.
~ Congrats to Barrett Tillman
on the success of his most recent book, Whirlwind, the story of the air
war against the Japanese home islands.
It’s just been released and has already been selected as an alternate
for the Book of the Month Club and as primary selections for both the Military
Book Club and the History Book Club.
~ You’ll note that I’ve revised
the background color on the newsletter in an attempt to improve the readability
of certain print font colors. Let me
know if you have any problems with this change.
~ If you get the Military Channel with your TV
service, note these listings for next week.
The times shown are for Comcast cable in northern California, so check
your local guide for the time in your area.
Saturday, Jan 16, 11:00 AM: “20th Century Battlefields: 1942 Midway”
Monday, Jan 18, 3:00 AM:
(above, repeated)
Monday, Jan 18, 4:00 AM:
“Myths of Pearl Harbor” (Parts 1 & 2)
Monday, Jan 18, 6:00 AM:
“Secrets of Pearl Harbor” (about the midget subs)
For a glossary of abbreviations, acronyms, and terms used in The
Roundtable Forum, click here
or go to our home page and click "The Roundtable Glossary" link.
Unless otherwise noted, all
original content in this issue of The Roundtable Forum, the Official
Newsletter of the Battle of Midway Roundtable is copyright 2009 by Ronald
W. Russell (see the “About
the BOMRT” page). Permission to
forward, copy, or quote from this web edition is granted if the following
citation is included: “The
Roundtable Forum, official newsletter of the Battle of Midway Roundtable,
www.midway42.org.”
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