Island, destroying three oil tanks and setting fire to a seaplane hangar. The
attack on Eastern Island began with an unforgettable incident. “Suddenly the
leading Jap plane peeled off,” an eyewitness wrote. “He dove down about 100 feet
from the ground, turned over on his back and proceeded leisurely flying upside
down over the ramp.” The Marines watched for a few seconds, then opened fire and
shot him down. Val dive bombers struck VMF-221’s arming pit, killing four
mechanics and exploding eight 100-pound bombs and 10,000 rounds of .50-caliber
machine-gun ammunition. Another Val demolished Eastern’s powerhouse, disrupting
Midway’s electricity and water distillation plant. Japanese efforts to render
Eastern’s runways useless were unsuccessful; only two small craters were left on
the landing strips. Midway’s defenders fought back with everything they had.
Major Dorn E. Arnold of the 6th Defense Battalion fired a Browning Automatic
Rifle at the enemy; a sailor on Sand Island used a Colt .45. Second Lieutenant
Elmer Thompson and another Marine fired a .30-caliber machine gun from a
crippled SB2U. The Japanese attack ended at 6:48 a.m. The all-clear sounded on
Midway at 7:15, and the process of picking up the pieces began. Kimes ordered
VMF-221’s fighters to land. Six Buffaloes staggered in. Including four aircraft
that landed during the raid, only 20 U.S. fighters had survived. Of those, only
one Wildcat and a single Buffalo were fit to fly. Fifteen Buffaloes and two
Wildcats were shot down, and 13 pilots were killed. Eleven Japanese aircraft
were downed by the fighters and anti-aircraft fire, while 53 were damaged.
Colonel Shannon’s trenches, bunkers and revetments proved effective. Only 11 of
Midway’s ground defenders were killed and 18 wounded. None of Midway’s planes
were caught on the ground except for an old utility biplane and a decoy plane
made of crates and tin roofing called the “JFU” (Jap fouler-upper)(Robertson 15).
While Midway repaired its damage and its defenders licked their wounds, the
aircraft that were sent out to attack the Japanese carriers made contact.
Lieutenant Langdon Fieberling’s six TBFs reached the Japanese fleet at 7:10,
dropped to low altitude and bore on toward the carriers. So many Zeros swarmed
around the vulnerable torpedo planes that the fighters got in each other’s way.
Two TBFs were destroyed in the first attack, followed by three more. Realizing
that he could not reach the carriers, Ensign Albert K. Earnest loosed his
torpedo at a cruiser, then broke away with two Zeros after him. Earnest flew his
shot-up TBF back to Midway, navigating “by guess and by God.” Close behind the
TBFs, Captain James Collins led his four B-26 Marauders into a gauntlet of anti-
aircraft fire and six Zeros. Collins led his planes down to 200 feet above the
water and, followed by Lieutenant James P. Muri, pressed on toward the carrier
Akagi. Collins released his torpedo 850 yards from the carrier and pulled away.
Muri released his torpedo at 450 yards, then turned and flew down the middle of
Akagi’s flight deck. Once Muri’s B-26 was clear of Akagi, the Zeros attacked
with a vengeance, wounding two crewmen and riddling the landing gear, fuel tanks,
propeller blades, radio and the top of one wing. Despite that punishment, Muri
and Collins were the only survivors of the four-plane B-26 group. Then, at 7:48,
the TBF and B-26 attacks were followed by VMSB-241’s 16 Dauntless and Vindicator
dive bombers led by Major Lofton Henderson. Henderson had divided the squadron
into two flights, leading the SBDs himself while Major Benjamin W. Norris led
the Vindicators. As Henderson led the squadron northwest, the faster Dauntlesses
soon left the Vindicators behind. Henderson’s SBDs got their first look at the
Japanese carriers at 7:25, and he radioed his Dauntless pilots, “Attack the two
enemy CV on the port bow.” Henderson had led his squadron down to 4,000 feet
when the Japanese combat air patrol attacked. The Dauntlesses also met with
heavy anti-aircraft fire from the Japanese ships. Henderson’s plane was hit, and
his port wing caught fire. He tried to keep his burning Dauntless in the lead,
but finally lost control and plunged into the sea. Captain Elmer C. Glidden
quickly took command of the Dauntlesses. “Fighter attacks were heavy,” he wrote,
“so I led the squadron down through a protecting layer of clouds”(Stevens 102).
The Zeros followed the Marines into the clouds. Glidden came out of the clouds
and found two Japanese carriers, Kaga and Hiryu, 2,000 feet below. The 10
remaining Dauntlesses dived to 500 feet or lower before releasing their bombs,
then sped away at full throttle, hounded by Zeros. Three SBDs crashed at sea
near Midway. Their crews were later rescued. The remaining six, some badly shot
up, reached Midway. Eight SBDs, including Henderson’s, were lost, with the
Japanese sustaining no damage. Sweeney’s 15 Flying Fortresses arrived over
Nagumo’s fleet at 8:10, as the Dauntlesses finished their attacks. Seen from
20,000 feet, the Japanese fleet was “an astonishing sight,” recalled B-17 pilot
Don Kundinger. “A panoramic view of the greatest array of surface vessels any of
us had ever seen–they seemed to stretch endlessly from horizon to horizon.”
Each three-plane B-17 element attacked on its own. Lieutenant Colonel Brooke
Allen’s element unloaded its bombs on the carrier Soryu, but all fell short.
Sweeney targeted Kaga, bracketing her stern with, he believed, “one bomb hit?
causing heavy smoke” (Robertson 22). Three Zeros ganged up on Captain Cecil
Faulkener’s bomber, riddling its fuselage and wounding the tail gunner. Another
Zero dueled with Captain Paul Payne’s Fortress but never closed in. “The Zeros
barely touched the B-17s,” Captain Paul Gregory reported. “Enemy pursuit
appeared to have no desire to close on B-17E modified”(Young 25). The B-17s
finished their attack by 8:20 and returned to Midway. Sweeney believed his B-17s
had hit at least one of the Japanese carriers. In reality, they had not. Shortly
after the B-17s left, Major Benjamin Norris’ 11 Vindicators arrived and Zeros
swarmed over them(Miracle 45). Norris, with no illusions about his old
“Vibrators,” decided not to press on toward the carriers. He led his men into
some clouds. Coming out of the cloud cover, Norris discovered a battleship below.
It was Haruna, supposedly sunk in December 1941. “Attack target below,” Norris
radioed, and he led the Vindicators into a high-speed glide. Anti-aircraft guns
on Haruna opened fire with an “extremely heavy and troublesome but inaccurate
barrage”(Stevens 121). Only two of Major Norris’ Vindicators were lost during
the attack. Three ditched at sea near Midway because of battle damage. Despite
reports that they had scored two direct hits and three near-misses, the
Vindicator pilots had not even scratched Haruna. If the Battle of Midway had
ended with the return of VMSB-241’s Vindicators, it would have been another
victory for the Japanese. Midway had sent 52 aircraft against the Japanese and
lost 19 without scoring a single hit. “From the time of the attack and the known
position of the enemy carriers, we estimated they would be back in three or four
hours,” Kimes wrote (Stevens 54). Only six Dauntlesses, seven Vindicators, one
Buffalo and a single Wildcat were left to oppose the Japanese. The defenders of
Midway steadied themselves for another air raid. Nothing happened. The only
aircraft to show up were 11 Dauntlesses from the carrier Hornet at 11:00 a.m.
Some Marine gunners, believing they were Japanese planes, opened fire on the
SBDs before recognizing their silhouettes. The Dauntlesses were refueled and
back in the air by 2:00 p.m. At 3:58, Midway’s defenders received an indication
that the Japanese were taking a beating when a PBY pilot reported “three burning
ships.” At 5:45 he reported, “The three burning ships are Jap carriers.” The
stricken vessels–Akagi, Kaga and Soryu–were the victims of SBD Dauntlesses
from the American carriers Enterprise and Yorktown. At the same time out at sea,
B-17s from Midway, along with six more Flying Fortresses from Hawaii, attacked
the Japanese carrier Hiryu, which had been damaged and set afire by dive bombers
from Enterprise and Hornet. The B-17s claimed hitting the burning Hiryu, as well
as a cruiser and battleship, and sinking a destroyer. In fact, the land-based
bombers were no more successful in the afternoon than they had been in the
morning. With all four of Nagumo’s carriers destroyed, Yamamoto decided he could
not proceed with his plan to occupy Midway, and ordered his fleet to withdraw.
Midway’s defenders, however, still expected the Japanese to invade. Captain
Simard dispersed his PBYs, evacuated nonessential personnel and warned his PT-
boats to expect a night attack. At 1:20 a.m., the Japanese submarine I-168
opened fire on Midway with its 5-inch deck gun. Batteries B and E on Eastern
Island, along with Battery D on Sand Island, returned fire with their 3- and 5-
inch guns, lobbing 42 shells at I-168, which lobbed eight shells back. The brief
exchange resulted in no damage to either side. Most of I-168’s shells fell in
the lagoon. The submarine submerged at 1:28, the Marine gunners ceased firing
and Midway settled back into uneasy silence (Miracle 68). June 5, 1942, began
for Midway’s defenders at 4:15 a.m., after Sand Island’s radio picked up a
report from the submarine USS Tambor of a large enemy force possibly within
striking distance. The Midway garrison still had every reason to believe that an
invasion was imminent. Within 15 minutes, eight B-17s took off from Eastern
Island to counter the threat. The Army pilots could not locate the enemy ships
in the early morning fog, and by 6:00 a.m. the B-17s were circling nearby Kure
Atoll waiting for information. At 6:30, a Midway-based PBY reported, “Sighted 2
battleships bearing 256 degrees, distance 125 miles, course 268 degrees, speed
15.” Two minutes later the PBY added, “Ships damaged, streaming oil.” The
Japanese ships were retreating, and the island’s defenders breathed a collective
sigh of relief. Marine Aircraft Group 22 sent up two flights from VMSB-241, six
Dauntlesses under Captain Marshall A. Tyler and six Vindicators led by Captain
Richard E. Flemming, to attack the two “battleships,” actually the heavy
cruisers Mikuma and Mogami, damaged in a collision the night before. Forty-five
minutes later, the Marine pilots spotted the oil slick left by the damaged
cruisers and followed it to Mogami and Mikuma. Tyler led his six Dauntlesses
into an attack on Mogami amid heavy anti-aircraft fire. The Marines dropped
their bombs, scoring a few near-misses. At 8:40, minutes after Tyler’s attack,
Flemming led his Vindicators out of the sun, through heavy flak from the
Japanese ships, against Mikuma. Captain Leon M. Williamson, a pilot in
Flemming’s flight, saw Flemming’s engine smoking during his dive. As Flemming
pulled out, his Vindicator burst into flames. Flemming–either by accident or
design–crashed his blazing Vindicator into Mikuma’s aft 8-inch gun turret. The
crash started a fire that was sucked into the cruiser’s starboard engine room
air intakes, suffocating the engineers. After the Marines finished their attacks,
the eight B-17s from Midway, led by Lt. Col. Brooke Allen, appeared and dropped
their bombs, scoring a near-miss on Mogami. The damaged cruisers continued
limping westward, and Mikuma sank at sunset the next day after attacks by
aircraft from Enterprise and Hornet. At 10:45 on June 6, 1942, Captain Simard
dispatched 26 B-17s from Midway in search of Japanese cruisers reported heading
southwest. The bombers did not locate the cruisers, but six B-17s dropped their
bombs on what they thought was a Japanese ship. The pilots reported that they
had hit a cruiser, which “sunk in seconds.” It was actually the submarine USS
Grayling, which submerged when the Flying Fortresses dropped their bombs. While
Midway’s bombers continued attacking the retreating Japanese, Simard had his
PBYs and PT-boats searching for downed pilots. Between June 4 and 9, Midway’s
PBYs picked up 27 airmen. By June 7, it had become apparent that Midway was
secure. The island’s garrison, for all the damage it had suffered, had
contributed its fair share to the victory over the Japanese. This Battle had
ended the Japanese offensive in the pacific ocean.