For
a 15-year period from 1997 to the beginning of 2012, the Battle of Midway Roundtable
was an interactive international association of those having a strong interest
in the battle that changed the course of World War II in the Pacific as well as
all world history that was to follow. Our roster included military
personnel, military veterans, family members of veterans, authors and
historians, researchers, students, aviation enthusiasts, ship and aircraft
hobbyists, and numerous others for whom the Battle of Midway has a special
meaning. Our membership extended to 20 countries around the world and
included men and women of all ages and from a wide variety of backgrounds.
The
BOMRT was unique among Internet history forums, for its active participants
included many actual veterans of the Battle of Midway itself. Among them
were pilots and aircrewmen, sailors from the various ships, Marines who served
on the atoll, and signal intelligence specialists who helped make the American
victory possible. For a complete list of our Midway veteran members,
click the BOMRT Vets List
link on our home page.
History
The
BOMRT was started rather unintentionally. In 1990 William H. Price, a
State Department employee in Washington, made a chance acquaintance with
retired Navy Captain Howard P. Ady, Jr., who had been the first to spot the
enemy carriers as the Battle of Midway began on 4 June 1942. Price then
commenced an extended e-mail exchange with Ady, which soon attracted the
interest of other Midway veterans. The result was a sort of e-mail
circular that continued among Price, Ady, and a few others for the next several
years. In 1997 the circular was mentioned on a comprehensive Battle of
Midway web site, and soon visitors to the site started asking Price to include
them in his distribution. He began forwarding the veterans’ messages to
everyone who wanted them, and the Battle of Midway Roundtable was born.
For
its first six years the Roundtable continued to function via direct daily
forwarding of e-mail. A great many discussions on all aspects of the
Battle of Midway and related topics were carried on by that method, usually
with the participation of our Midway veterans. By early 2004 over 8000
messages had been originated and forwarded to hundreds of recipients, but by
then it was obvious that operating the Roundtable by forwarding individual
e-mail messages could not continue with a constantly increasing
membership. Thus in 2004 the BOMRT transitioned to a periodic newsletter,
“The Roundtable Forum,” which published 338 new issues over the next seven
years, all of which can be found here.
Today,
with far fewer surviving and participating Midway vets, the Roundtable is sustained
primarily through its archives on this web site. E-mail contact continues to be welcome, and all inquiries will be
answered.
Contact Us
The Battle of Midway Roundtable
Ronald W. Russell, Editor and Webmaster
e-mail: midway.rt@gmail.com
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