The Roundtable
Forum
Official
Newsletter of the Battle of Midway
Roundtable
4 July 2011
Issue
Number: 2011-16
Our 14th Year
~
AROUND THE TABLE ~
MEMBERS’
TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE:
1. The BOM in The War by Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns
2. Marines at Midway
3. LCDR Donald Lovelace, VF-3 XO
4. VS-6 Gunner Peter Gaido
5. VMSB-241 Pilot Photo
6. BOM Veteran Statistics
7, Book Review: Attack on Pearl Harbor
8. Hypo Photos in Naval Aviation News
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1. THE BOM IN THE WAR BY GEOFFREY WARD
AND KEN BURNS
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22 June 2011
From: General Earl E. Anderson, USMC-Ret
Virginia
BOM vet, Captain,
Marine Detachment, USS Yorktown (CV-5)
The 10 June 2011 Issue, which
you indicate is a special issue in memory of Captain "DeLo"
DeLorenzo, was a warming account of the life of a distinguished WW2 naval
aviator who was such an active participant on the Roundtable. I commend
your for this fine tribute, and for the countless hours you devote to producing
the Roundtable Forum for its many readers. I eagerly look forward
to the next Issue, as I consider my tour on the Yorktown in the
Atlantic in 1941 and in the Pacific in 1942 until we were sunk, the highlight
of my 35 year career.
I duly noted in the Editor's Notes your mentioning of my 92nd birthday this
month. I will celebrate it with my 3 children, three of my 4
grandchildren, and 3 of my 5 great grandchildren. To be in what I believe
is very good health for a 92 year old Marine of three wars, I thank the Lord
each day.
Before closing, I want to mention a thank you letter I sent last week to an
acquaintance who had sent me the book, The War. In one of the paragraphs I stated, "I
have spent only a limited time so far with the book, but the first matter that
I checked on was the Battle of Midway. I was disappointed, and frankly
disgusted with the cursory treatment of this famous battle that is celebrated
around the world each year, and is acknowledged as the 'turning point" in
the War in the Pacific. On pages 46 and 47, the total text space devoted
to the Battle of Midway is less than one (1) printed page. Furthermore,
the caption for the photo on page 46 states, 'the Akagi and one
of her destroyer escorts frantically seek to dodge the bombs being dropped by
U.S. B-17's that would sink her by nightfall June 4, 1942.' (Underscore supplied.) This is totally false. The Akagi and
three other Japanese carriers were sunk that day by bombs dropped by dive
bombers from the USS Yorktown and the USS Enterprise."
This treatment of the Battle of Midway really got to me.
Again, I congratulate you on the absolutely outstanding job you do in
publishing the great Roundtable.
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Ed. note: the page and photo in The War that
Gen. Anderson refers to can be seen on-line:
click
here, put Midway in the search field, select page 46, then scroll to the
photo.
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2. MARINES AT MIDWAY
Ed.
note: an organization aiding visitors to Midway
Atoll asked me for contacts with BOM Marine veterans, in connection with a the
preparation of a visitor’s guidebook.
Here’s the response from Roundtable member John Miniclier, who will
celebrate birthday number 90 later this month.
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2 July 2011
From: Col. John Miniclier, USMC-Ret
Florida
BOM vet, PFC, 6th
MarDefBn, Midway
I
will try to make a few comments on your guidebook, but I think that Don Drake
gave you a lot of good information and I will try not to repeat or cover the
same area.
I
assume you have read the book by Ronald Russell, No Right To Win.
Appendix D of that book [discusses] Marines At Midway by R. D. Heinl
(1948), a source you should read. It provides a history of Midway when it
was called Brooks Island, starting in 1869; picture of the cable station in
early 1900s, a contribution by Pan-America and its Clipper aircraft, and it has
Marines there from 1904 through 1908. Page 9 gives a detail account of
the visit by Mr. Kurusu and how the Marines were shown. as well as a shooting
of most guns on Sand Island. Page 13 gives a detail report of 1st Lt.
George H. Cannon’s death and the wounds of others [during] the action on 7
December 1941. The shell that killed the lieutenant entered through an
air port between the two reinforced decks. All those air ports were open,
at least through 1943, when I left Midway. I expect the windows
shown in later pictures of the power plant were installed as the war moved
further west. During this action
casualties were two killed and 10 wounded in the 6th Defense Battalion and the
Naval Air Station lost two.
This
will give you more information on what happened on Midway during the
major battle [in June] and a breakdown of casualties; Marine Air Group 22,
killed in action 7, missing and presumed dead 35, wounded 25; 6th Marine
Defense Battalion (Reinforced), killed 7, wounded 28.
If
Midway is to have visitors it should show the total background. You have
caused me to search my records and I have found in each position I was in
and the names of men with me in each. By the end of the month I shall
reach the age of 90, but like good scotch, I am better with age
You
are doing a good job, keep it up with facts and I am sure that some will not
agree with my figures but remember all Marines spell it with an "M."
Semper
Fi,
Col.
Miniclier
PS: It has
been a good life, private to colonel.
Take care of my Corps.
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3. LCDR DONALD LOVELACE, VF-3 XO
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27 June 2011
From: LCDR Otis G. Kight, USN-Ret
Virginia
BOM vet, flight deck
seaman, VF-42, USS Yorktown (CV-5)
For many moons, I and others in the squadron have wondered if VF-3
XO Don Lovelace’s remains were left aboard the Yorktown. I was in the rescue crew that was involved,
but all I can recall from the event was that he was killed, and his
remains were embalmed and stored in a refrigerated locker. Any
one out there have any other info?
He was hit by an F4F that boomeranged over the barriers
and put its engine almost squarely in the cockpit of the
new XO’s F4F-4.
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Ed. note: the point of Otis’s question is, did
LCDR Lovelace get a burial at sea in the customary manner some time between May
30th and June 3rd, or did his body go down with the Yorktown on June 7th? Since Otis is a member of the VF-42 and Yorktown reunion groups, those vets apparently have no info. Anyone else?
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4 . VS-6 GUNNER PETER GAIDO
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6 June 2011
From: Terry Higham
California
As we pay tribute to those who gave their all during the battle of
Midway, I think it’s fitting to remember one of them who Captain Dusty Kleiss
named the bravest man he ever knew: Bruno P. ("Peter") Gaido who flew
as radioman-gunner for Ensign Frank W. O'Flaherty of VS-6. As recounted in A Glorious Page in Our
History, after ditching he and Ensign O'Flaherty were retrieved by
the Japanese destroyer Makigumo, interrogated and murdered by their
captors. In Issue
No. 2006-17, Dusty Kleiss recounts that Gaido was promoted on the spot for
his gallantry in manning a machine gun in an empty SBD during an air
attack on Enterprise.
A biography of Admiral Halsey adds a few more facts to that
account. While retiring from its
successful strikes on four Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands on February
1, 1942, Enterprise was itself attacked by five twin-engine
bombers. One of the five, with both engines on fire, dropped out of
formation, circled about and headed again for Enterprise, apparently
intent on making a suicide crash among the planes parked on the forward end of
her flight deck. Captain Murray of Enterprise took evasive
action, but the crippled plane turned with the carrier. At that moment,
Admiral Halsey and others observed a helmeted figure dash across the flight
deck, leap into the rear seat of an SBD, man its gun and open fire at the
approaching bomber. The fire of the SBD was credited with killing the
pilot of the Japanese bomber, because, as Enterprise turned hard over
again, the bomber failed to turn with the ship, However, the bomber
skipped across the flight deck, skidding on a diagonal path while gasoline
from its ruptured fuel tanks sprayed the island and drenched the navigation
bridge. The plane's right wing tip slashed off the tail of the rearmost
SBD, not three feet from Gaido, who continued firing into the bomber's fuselage
as it skipped over the flight deck and crashed into the sea. At the time,
Gaido was an Aviation Machinist’s Mate 2/c.
As a reward for valor, Enterprise's Captain Murray promoted
Gaido to Machinist’s Mate 1/c. (E.B.
Potter, Bull Halsey, p. 48, Naval Institute Press, 1985).
This brave man typified so many like him, who gave the last full measure of their devotion during those tense days of battle in June 1942.
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5. VMSB-241 PILOT PHOTO
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4 June 2011
From: Stephen J. Kovacs
Michigan
Attached is a press release
photo with caption that I copied from an auction listing on eBay,
with said auction due to close, rather appropriately, two days from now on
6 June. Perhaps the photo will prove of some use to you in
a forthcoming issue of the Roundtable Forum.
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Ed. note: click
here to see the photo, which was taken on Midway sometime between
mid-April and late May, 1942. This
photo also appears in A Glorious Page In Our History, p. 76. To enlarge the photo on-line, just click the
middle of it (with Internet Explorer or Firefox, and maybe other browsers).
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6. BOM VETERAN STATISTICS ( See issues #13 and 15 )
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20 June 2011
From: Fred Branyan
Pennsylvania
I enjoyed reading CAPT Brennan's analysis of
BOM survivors. For what it is worth, I
think he might be overestimating the age of the average sailor on Hornet. My father [Hornet vet] was born in
1920, had almost exactly 1 year of active duty since reserve activation in October
1940, and I seem to recall reading somewhere that the majority of the lower
enlisted ranks were similar 6 to12 month active duty reserves or even shortly
out of boot camp. I heard from one of
his friends not long ago who was right out of boot camp and described my father
as one of the older folks in 3rd Division.
The majority of the Hornet folks still
attending Mustin-Hornet reunions were born in the early 1920s.
Most now are in their late 80s. There
are about 100 vets still on the roster.
Most were Seaman 1/c while on Hornet. For every one I have
met or talked to, it was their first active duty ship. I agree, the BM1/c and chief types are
long gone.
Be all that as it may, I enjoyed his analysis,
suspect it is highly accurate, and miss all of the BOM and CV-8
vets we have lost.
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7. BOOK REVIEW: ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR ( see issue #15 )
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20 June 2011
From: Jeffrey B. McMeans
California
I once heard that one letter
sent to a person in Congress had the value of 20,000 people. That said, I
want to thank you for each and every issue of The Roundtable Forum.
I really appreciate them and always add something to my knowledge of this
battle and others, also. I really appreciate your review of Dr. Zimm's
new book on Pearl Harbor. I would never have thought that the battle was
to send a message to the American people except, of course, that was what it
always was, an attempt to get the weak willed Americans to the negotiating
table. I also liked [Dr. Zimm’s] filling in the gaps to the already known
story of Fuchida sending up that second flare that let the bomber pilots fly to
wherever they wanted, likening it to what happens to horses after the bell has
wrung at the Kentucky Derby.
Thanks again for all you do.
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8. HYPO PHOTOS IN NAVAL AVIATION NEWS ( see issues #13 & 15 )
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24 June 2011
From: James M. Hanford
Michigan
My
thanks and respects to Admiral Showers for his comments regarding the two
photos [in the Shattered Sword Yahoo Group] mis-identified as taken in the
"dungeon." The captions have
been corrected. If he will look again
at that album, he will now see a photo of himself as a
lieutenant, which I assume was taken during his service in
Hypo.
It is a rare pleasure to have those who were there
available and willing to offer comments for those of us trying to document
their legacy
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Ed. note: the photo of LT Showers was taken in October
1945, after the end of the war and his service on Guam.
~ NOW
HEAR THIS! ~
NEWS
& INFO IN THIS ISSUE:
- 69th BOM Anniversary in San Francisco
- Featured Link
- Editor’s Notes
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69th BOM ANNIVERSARY IN
SAN FRANCISCO
The high point of the year on the Midway Roundtable is the
anniversary of the battle in June, and the high point of each of the many
anniversary commemoration events is the presence of BOM veterans. The Navy’s formal banquet in San Francisco
is always among the best of such celebrations, with a major guest speaker and
numerous BOM vets on hand. This year’s
speaker was ComPacFleet Admiral Patrick M. Walsh, who has the job held by
Admiral Nimitz in 1942.
Six BOM vets were present for the event in San Francisco
this year, including Roundtable member and VT-3 gunner Lloyd Childers. In this
photo, Lloyd rises at the banquet as he is singled out by ADM Walsh for his
service at Midway.
In the next
photo shows ADM Walsh greeting Oral “Slim” Moore, a VB-8 gunner who Midway
historians have associated with a controversial radio message sent from his SBD
to the Enterprise when he and his pilot first sited Mogami and Mikuma
on June 6th. As it happens, the
history books pretty much have that story wrong, and you need to come to the
Roundtable to find out what really happened.
Moore told us all about it in 2007, and you can re-read that article by clicking here
(scroll down to “Letter from a Hornet Air Group vet”).
Bonus: there’s a familiar photo of Moore and his pilot
during the battle on page 137 of A Glorious Page In Our History (4th printing,
1998). The names in the caption are
incorrect; that’s Moore on the right with his pilot ENS Doug Carter, standing
in front of their bullet-holed SBD, 8-B-13.
Unfortunately, the bullet holes came from friendly fire as VB-8
approached Midway on June 4th.
(Thanks to William Schultz of the S.F. BOM Commemoration
Committee for the San Francisco photos.)
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FEATURED LINK
I tend to avoid using the term “awesome,” as it’s seriously
overused by my grandson’s generation.
I’d rather be identified with my own.
That said, this week’s featured link is downright awesome! This is a Power Point slide show sent to
me by Clay Fisher, consisting of high-resolution images of some of the best
aviation artwork of World War II. Most
of you will find the show rather mesmerizing—the images are all excellent. To enhance the effect, turn up your speakers
and enjoy the music from the sound track of “Memphis Belle.”
Note that it’s best to download this type of file and open
it in your computer off-line, rather than trying to open and view it on-line.
Click
here for the featured link.
Technical note:
sadly, Power Point only works with Windows computers, so my apologies to
Mac (etc.) users. If you have a Windows
p.c. but not Power Point, you can download the free Power Point Viewer from the
Microsoft
web site. If you need to bother
with that, do it and you won’t be disappointed. (Anyone know a trick for working Power Point with a Mac?)
Bonus: note the 5th
picture, which the caption identifies as two SBDs from the Yorktown in
the BOM. What’s wrong with that
picture? Everyone with the right answer
will become famous in 19 countries by seeing his or her name in the next issue.
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EDITOR’S NOTES
~ Here’s an interesting YouTube
video showing WW2 carrier operations, with thanks to Roundtable member
James Leffler.
~ Another YouTube video: CNO Admiral Gary Roughead’s
address for this year’s BOM commemoration in Washington, DC.
~ Here’s an interesting
article about the use of modern-day Midway as an emergency landing field
for general aviation. The article
describes such an emergency involving a Delta Airlines Boeing 747 that had to
land on Sand Island. Note that the
airstrip there is now named “Henderson Field.”
~ Military Historical Tours has announced its
70th anniversary excursions to Pearl Harbor and to Guam and Wake Island, both
in December of this year. Click
here, then scroll down and click either tour.
