MIDWAY JUNE 5-6, 1942
Attack on the destroyer Tanikaze- late afternoon, June 5
Our task force had retired to the east most of the night of June 4, to avoid engaging a superior Japanese surface force at night. The next morning the task force moved west again and only a few dive-bombers were launched to scout ahead of the task force. Finally, about the middle of the afternoon, a contact report was received of a small Japanese force of two cruisers and some destroyers.
I was launched with a flight of Hornet dive-bombers and a few aircraft from the Yorktown that had landed on the Hornet the day before. We had about twenty aircraft in the flight. We were going to fly out almost to the limit of the combat range of the dive-bombers so we were carrying the smaller 500-pound bombs. Sunset would be close to 8:00 pm (6.00 pm, Midway time) but we were still looking at the possibility of making night carrier landings. Our carrier task force was supposed to close as much distance as possible to the target area while we were flying. Most of the Hornet pilots had only made one night carrier landing on the Hornet’s "shake down" cruises in January 1942. At about 210 miles, we flew over a huge oil slick. It was from the aircraft carrier Hiryu that had finally sunk early that morning. We were too high to see any survivors that may have been in the water near the oil slick.
Fleeing from the Japanese defeat at Midway, the Japanese heavy cruiser Miikuma has been battered by Dauntless SBD dive-bombers from the American aircraft carriers Hornet and Enterprise, and also by Marine aircraft from the Midway Islands.
By skilful maneuvering, the destroyer Tanikaze escapes
I was hoping our flight leader would finally abort the mission and lead us back to the Hornet and Enterprise but he continued our course until we sighted a single Japanese ship. It was at first identified as a light cruiser, but it was a destroyer named the Tanikaze. As the dive-bombers ahead of us started their dives, the Tanikaze increased its speed and started evasive maneuvering. The ship was bracketed by near misses. I expected to see some direct hits that would eventually sink the ship. In my mind that ship was doomed. I was getting in position to start a dive when two flak bursts right behind me shook my plane. I quickly rolled into a 70-degree dive and could see the explosions of bombs dropped ahead of me make big circular patterns in the water. The bombs had closely bracketed the ship. I had to change my point of aim twice in the dive. The ship was making a turn but would make small changes of course while staying in the turn. I could see multiple flashes of their guns all the way down in my dive. My gunner told me I had missed close astern. I had underestimated the ship's speed. The Tanikaze was moving at its maximum speed of almost 34 knots.
After I made my recovery, I circled around behind the stern of the ship to take up a heading for the Hornet. I watched a dive-bomber making a dive and the plane dove straight into the water and exploded. The pilot must have been hit, or his plane damaged so much that he could not pull out of his dive. The pilot was Lt Sam Adams, a Yorktown pilot.
In 1943, I was stationed with Commander "Chick" Harmer, a Naval Academy classmate of Sam Adams. He showed me some 8 mm home movies he had taken of Adams, his wife and his two children at a barbeque prior to the war. It was a strange feeling to see what Sam Adams had looked like.
As the other pilots completed their bombing runs, they immediately headed for the Hornet and Enterprise. None of us wanted to waste fuel or time trying to circle and join up and form a formation. Individual aircraft were strung out in a long line for that dreary flight back to the carriers. Tanikaze escaped with damage to one gun turret from a near miss and the loss of six crew members. We had lost a very experienced pilot. Lt Adams was the SBD flight leader on a search mission that located the last Japanese carrier, the Hiryu.
As we came into range of the carriers’ radio homing devices, my radioman told me that he was receiving a very weak signal from the Hornet and the Enterprise’s stronger signal. The Enterprise was transmitting a different sector code letter than the Hornet! We had been briefed that both carriers would transmit the same code letters for each 20-degree sector radiating from each ship. These code letters indicated which sector you were in and the course to take to the carrier. I elected to use the Hornet’s code letter. I located the Hornet and was the first aircraft to land on the Hornet just as the small flush deck lights were turned on. By the time I got out of the cockpit it was dark. The Hornet pilots who could not hear the Hornet’s weak signal used the stronger signal from the Enterprise and became lost. By this time it had become a very dark night.
Captain Mitchner ordered the Hornet’s powerful searchlight turned on and pointed to a vertical position as a homing beacon for the lost pilots. The pilots who were able to see the light beacon were able to land on the carriers. Two Hornet pilots ran out of fuel in the landing pattern and had to ditch. One of these pilots was actually in the landing "groove". A destroyer rescued both pilots and their crewmen. A couple of Hornet pilots landed on the Enterprise and didn’t know they were on the Enterprise until they tried to find their way to their ready room. Lost again! The ships of the same class are all configured a little different.
The Tanikaze had over 80 bombs dropped on her, including some from B-17s, and had not been hit. I told other pilots in our ready room that I thought someone on the ship was watching our individual dives and had directed those quick changes of direction as we were approaching our bomb release points. There was a Japanese signalman on the bridge who directed those maneuvers. I was going to meet him in 1991.
Two other Hornet pilots and myself from Bombing Squadron Eight had the opportunity to meet a signalman who was a crew member of the Tanikaze in Coronado, California in 1991. I have his written account of what happened aboard the Tanikaze on that terrible day for his ship and the crew. His battle station as a signalman was on the bridge. He had volunteered to be a lookout and positioned himself on his back with his body partially protruding through a window hatch on the bridge. He could see and track each dive-bomber in its dive and passed his recommended ship’s course changes through a sound powered telephone to the commanding officer who was the helmsman. His actions saved that ship and it’s crew. This man’s name is Masashi Shibata. He survived the war and became a very successful businessman in Japan.
Mr. Shibata and his wife met two Hornet pilots, Commander Don Adams and Captain Roy Gee and myself along with our wives for dinner at the Hotel del Coronado in 1991. Mr. Shibata gave each one of us a small-scale model of the Tanikaze. I gave him a small pair of Naval aviator's gold wings. During the course of our dinner at the hotel, I proposed a toast to Mr. Shabata and the courageous crew of the Tanikaze. I said we had won the war, but the Tanikaze had won the battle that fateful day. He thanked me with tears running down his face.
The Tanikaze was also in the Japanese carrier task force during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 26, 1942. The Tanikaze was finally sunk in the New Guinea area and Mr. Shabata was badly wounded.
Attack on the cruiser Mikuma- Morning, June 6
We now commenced what I consider to be the "mopping up" phase of the Battle of Midway. I was launched with about sixteen other dive-bombers to attack the cruiser Mikuma and two destroyers. Lieutenant Commander Gus Widhelm, the Executive Officer of VS-8, was our flight leader. He told us in our briefing that he was going to put a 1000-pound bomb down the smoke stack of that cruiser. As we approached that cruiser, he pulled out of the formation and did a solo dive on the cruiser. He got a direct bomb hit just behind the smoke stack! We had a VS-8 pilot shot down by AA fire. His name was Ensign Griswald. He had told one of his friends that he had a premonition he was going to get killed on that flight.
End of the cruiser Mikuma - Afternoon, June 6
The Hornet and Enterprise launched about twenty dive-bombers to try and finish off the cruiser and the two destroyers that had been bombed that morning. We found the cruiser Mikuma dead in the water and a lot of men in the water. The destroyers near the cruiser were picking up survivors out of the water. The VS-8 flight just ahead of us hit the cruiser with two 1000-pound bombs and triggered a huge explosion. The debris must have reached over 1,500 feet. The destroyers started pulling away from the cruiser. The C.O. of VB-8, Ruff Johnston, diverted our flight division to target the destroyers. I selected a destroyer that was in a shallow turn and increasing its speed. The destroyer did not put up any AA probably because of survivors exposed on the open deck. It was easy to line up for a dive-bombing run. I dropped my bomb from about 1,500 feet and my gunner told me we got a direct hit near the stern. The destroyer went dead in the water. Ruff Johnson confirmed the hit. I later found out the destroyer was the Arashio, and due to superb damage control efforts by the crew, the ship did not sink and was able to reach Wake Island. There was terrible suffering among the wounded survivors while enroute to Wake Island.
Conclusion to a Battle- June 7
The Battle of Midway was finally over. I was emotionally drained and physically very tired. I had flown on all five of the dive–bomber attack missions launched from the Hornet and had logged seventeen combat hours.
When I sat in the officers' wardroom (dining room), I looked at two completely empty tables. Each squadron had their own table, and the VF-8 and the VT-8 tables were empty. As I looked at those tables, I could remember some of the individual pilot’s conversations and jokes. I visited the VT-8’s ready room. It was completely empty except for the pilots' uniforms hanging on the hooks; left there after they had changed into their flight suits. As shipmates of the deceased pilots, some of us were assigned the job of inventorying their personal effects and then packing them for shipment to their next of kin. Another pilot and myself inventoried the personal effects of Lieutenant Moore and Ensign Bill Evans. It was a very emotional and depressing experience.
Return to Pearl Harbor
The Hornet and Enterprise steamed by Diamond Head on June 13 and finally docked at Pearl Harbor. I was able to send my wife and mother a telegram to tell them I was okay. I was one of the lucky ones!