Battle of Midway 70th...

[Hatterasguy]

70 years ago we stopped the advance of the Empire of Japan.

Antiaéreo Bofors 40mm L70 (Armada Argentina) - YouTube

Celebrate it with some Bofors, good for downing Zero's. No wonder most WW2 vets can't hear, they are freaken loud!

The Battle Of Midway (1942) - YouTube

[t walgamuth]

That was the battle in which we caught the Japanese with their planes in the process of getting their torpedos changed out for bombs, right?

Or was it bombs for torpedos?

In any case we caught them with their planes not flyable when we attacked the carriers and wiped them pretty much out.

[Botnst]

My Dad was there, on the Hornet. 5" AAA officer.

[t walgamuth]

Shooting a 5" aa gun with a plane flying at you must have been harrowing.

[MS Fowler]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

Shooting a 5" aa gun with a plane flying at you must have been harrowing.

Agreed. So would be flying a plane into AA fire knowing it is all aimed at YOU.
War is Hell.

[Botnst]

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g30000/g33947.jpg

This is Hornet under attack and sunk at Battle of Santa Cruz Island. Dad got feet wet.

[The Clk Man]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

70 years ago we stopped the advance of the Empire of Japan.

Antiaéreo Bofors 40mm L70 (Armada Argentina) - YouTube

Celebrate it with some Bofors, good for downing Zero's. No wonder most WW2 vets can't hear, they are freaken loud!

The Battle Of Midway (1942) - YouTube

And we have been giving them all of our money and jobs for 69 years.

[MS Fowler]

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

And we have been giving them all of our money and jobs for 69 years.

Unintended consequence of helping your former enemies by rebuilding their infrastructure and industry with the latest and greatest technology while yours simply ages and becomes inefficient.

[The Clk Man]

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

Unintended consequence of helping your former enemies by rebuilding their infrastructure and industry with the latest and greatest technology while yours simply ages and becomes inefficient.

I hate to say it, but I use a Japanese printing press "Ryobi 3200" it was far superior to the American A.B. Dick printing press.

[MS Fowler]

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

I hate to say it, but I use a Japanese printing press "Ryobi 3200" it was far superior to the American A.B. Dick printing press.

I seriously doubt that the Japanese are still reaping advantages from our assistance after WW2. Most of that was in the 1960s and 70s--steel/ auto/cameras. Their stuff got old, too.

[dynalow]

Torpedo Squadron 8 off the Hornet lost all 15 of its outdated TBD torpedo planes. 29 of 30 men killed. Ens. George Gay was the only survivor.
US People--Gay, George H., Jr.

His oral history:
......Personally, I was just lucky. I've never understood why I was the only one that came back, but it turned out that way, and I want to be sure that the men that didn't come back get the credit for the work that they did. They followed Comdr. Waldron without batting an eye and I don't feel like a lot of people have felt that we made mistakes and that Comdr. Waldron got us into trouble. I don't feel that way at all. I know that if I had it all to do over again, even knowing that the odds were going to be like they were, knowing him like I did know him, I'd follow him again through exactly the same thing because I trusted him very well. We did things that he wanted us to do not because he was our boss, but because we felt that if we did the things he wanted us to do then it was the right thing to do..................

Oral History - Battle of Midway

[Pooka]

Many years ago I was at a gun show in Dallas at Market Hall and was looking at an original painting of Gay in the water. It was OK, but no Rembrandt.

Then some old guy came up next to me and said he thought it was a good painting, but that there was another guy in the water as well. The artist asked him how he knew and he said he could hear him screaming.

Turns out it was George Gay himself. He did not know who the other person was and did not really want to talk about it. He just wanted to enjoy the gun show.

I could tell he did not want to go into any long discussions, so I just said it must have been rough and someone else pointed out he was the only survivor and there were likely several people who lived for a while after being shot down.

He just said he had a front row seat to it all, and that he liked the painting.

Then he walked off. He seemed to think that he did not do anything different from anyone else.

[t walgamuth]

That is the attitude of most ww2 guys.

[dynalow]

Originally Posted by Pooka

Many years ago I was at a gun show in Dallas at Market Hall and was looking at an original painting of Gay in the water. It was OK, but no Rembrandt.

Then some old guy came up next to me and said he thought it was a good painting, but that there was another guy in the water as well. The artist asked him how he knew and he said he could hear him screaming.

Turns out it was George Gay himself. He did not know who the other person was and did not really want to talk about it. He just wanted to enjoy the gun show.

I could tell he did not want to go into any long discussions, so I just said it must have been rough and someone else pointed out he was the only survivor and there were likely several people who lived for a while after being shot down.

He just said he had a front row seat to it all, and that he liked the painting.

Then he walked off. He seemed to think that he did not do anything different from anyone else.

Nice story. Thanks for sharing.

[MTUpower]

Now USFWS controls the island (Midway) and they are a bunch of idiots. I worked there for two years before they kicked out MPC so they could have the island all to themselves. Far too many promises of "we'll to this, and we won't do that" which were just plain lies so that they could get what they want.