PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE
Hornet and Enterprise are recalled to Pearl Harbor
The Hornet and the Enterprise were deployed to the South Pacific on 30 April 1942 shortly after returning to Pearl Harbor following the Doolittle Raid on Japan, but we missed the Coral Sea carrier battle.
In this image the USS Hornet is shown launching B-25 medium bombers for the famous Doolittle Raid on Japan
The Hornet and Enterprise were suddenly ordered to return to Pearl Harbor. The Yorktown was already enroute to Pearl Harbor for major battle damage repairs. There was a lot of speculation among the pilots about the reason the ships were being returned to Pearl Harbor. We were cruising faster than our normal speed. We all had a feeling something big was going to happen.
While en route to Pearl Harbor, the dive-bombers were flying 200-mile single plane searches ahead of the task force. We usually launched about eight aircraft to cover 20-degree search sectors at the crack of dawn and launched eight more aircraft late afternoon to again search ahead of the task force. We operated under absolute radio silence. The task force traveled about sixty miles before the aircraft returned from the searches. We used dead-reckoning navigation and an FM radio homing device with a fairly short range. Your radio receiver was your lifeline to find your carrier if your navigation was faulty. We were allowed to use our transmitters very briefly if we became lost. If the carrier heard this message it would only transmit twice a compass bearing and distance to the ship. A weak radio or a complete radio failure was our big worry.
Ensign Louis Muery, a VB-8 pilot did not return from an afternoon search. (Muery had stood up with me at my wedding on February 18, 1942 at Norfolk). It was too late in the day to send out search aircraft and the task force would be moving north about 200 miles before search aircraft could be sent out at dawn the next morning. So there was no search conducted. After the Battle of Midway and the Hornet had returned to Pearl Harbor, we were told Muery had ditched and survived twenty-three days in his 2-man life raft. His radio/gunner drowned when their raft capsized on the coral reef surrounding an island as they tried to land on the beach.
A few days before the task force reached Pearl Harbor, the Hornet pilots' outlook on life changed radically. We were briefed about the existence of large Japanese naval forces that included five or six of their largest aircraft carriers. These naval forces were expected to deploy from Japan and possibly attack Midway Island. The Japanese naval codes had been broken and it was determined that Midway Island was the target. The odds were bad. We had the Hornet and Enterprise to go up against possibly a minimum of five Japanese aircraft carriers. We knew the Yorktown could not be repaired in time to fight. We all knew from results of the Coral Sea battle that both our carriers could be sunk. I think all the pilots were now living with a lot of apprehension that gnawed at their minds.
Arrival at Pearl Harbor, 26 May 1942
Hornet's Air Group Eight flew off the ship on May 26 and we landed at the Marine Air Station at Ewa Field located a short distance from Pearl Harbor. We were all restricted to the base for security reasons because we knew too much. We were given a few bottles of whiskey and proceeded to relieve a little mental tension. Later that evening some of the pilots from VS-8 and VB-8 got into a semi friendly fight. Not too much damage. A few face scratches and body bruises from the lava rock cinders on the ground in the area between the "shacks" the Marines called BOQs (bachelor officers' quarters).
Air Group Eight rejoins Hornet, on May 28
On the morning of May 28, the Air Group flew back aboard the Hornet and joined the task force, which included the Enterprise. The task force immediately set a course for the Midway Island area. We were surprised to know the Yorktown would follow us later and the three carriers would rendezvous north east of Midway Island.
Searching off Midway, June 1
I flew a 200-mile search late on the afternoon of June 1 in the extreme North-West Sector. I had been ordered to absolutely go out the maximum 200-mile distance. When I reached about 160 miles my engine periodically started to shake and vibrate. I started to turn around to head back for the Hornet. The engine smoothed out and I turned back to finish my search. The engine again started shaking and vibrating, and I again reversed course. Reluctantly, I finally did get out the full 200 miles and then on my return navigational leg every little strange noise in that engine was magnified. It was a big ocean out there and I felt very lonely!
After I landed on the Hornet, I told the Squadron Maintenance Officer Lieutenant Fred Bates the aircraft should be "grounded" and I would refuse to fly it again. Ensign Guillory was the Assistant Maintenance Officer, and he "piped up" and told Bates he would fly that aircraft in the future. I thought to myself, good luck! Guillory flew that aircraft later on June 4 and the engine did quit. He ditched about twenty miles from Midway Island. He was rescued by a PBY (Catalina flying boat).
First Japanese Contacts, June 3
The first enemy contacts were being reported from Navy PBY long-range patrol aircraft on June 3. June 4 was going to be the big day. The Japanese carrier task force was closing the distance so their aircraft could reach and attack Midway Island.
After pilot briefings in the various ready rooms early in the evening of June 3, most of the pilots retired to their rooms. The entire ship was unusually quiet and there were no pilots moving around the dimly blue-lighted passageways. It was a strange and eerie feeling. I felt as an individual pilot my odds of survival the next morning were minimal, even if we achieved our planned surprise attack on the Japanese carriers with all their experienced air groups. We had heard about the successes of the Zero fighters shooting down our aircraft during the Battle of the Coral Sea. I have read postwar Japanese accounts that the Japanese pilots were partying and playing their record players that evening - maybe "China Nights"! They evidently were very confident they were going to have an easy time attacking Midway Island.
I wrote letters to my wife and my mother and told them I was resigned to whatever fate had in store for me. If we lost the battle and I was killed, I knew our country would eventually defeat the Japanese. Frankly, I was very worried and scared. Nobody wants to die. We have always had fatal aviation operational accidents. Younger pilots usually didn’t worry too much; those accidents were always going to happen to the other pilot. This evening had a different feeling. Tomorrow I could be one of those "other pilots".