Get started. Good morning. Welcome to the navy memorial, our mis and celebrate the men and women of the sea services. Past, present and future, and to educate the American Public about your service. So its actually a tremendous honor for us to be here, and on a day like today, we use the term sea services. Were all in it together. And i think these gentlemen right here represent the idea of being all in it together. I want to say one thing about why im honored. And why were honored to be here today. And the opportunity you all have today. When i looked at the program here. And i look at words like trailblazers, legends. These are in the agenda. The last ace. Leadership saving lives, the greatest generation. The medal of honor. Why we fought valor, witness to history. And right here, the turn of the tide. It is an honor for us to be here, i hope you all really get a lot out of the next couple days, as was just mentioned, this is literally an opportunity of a lifetime, that we have in the next couple days to be able to listen to these great americans, who literally gave of themselves and set an example and paved a path for us all to walk on. Welcome to the navy memorial. I hope you appreciate the hospitali hospitality, and when i say that, what i hope what im really saying is i hope we can make the hospitality as great as it can be, to make your experience as great as it can be in the next two days. Thank you very much. Without further ado, im going do welcome craig horn, who will be our emcee throughout the day to interest douse the first panel, thanks, everybody. Good morning, my name is craig horn, this is maybe my 20th year as well with the annual American Veterans conference. This morning, were going to begin an adventure as we look back, so we can see further ahead. Ignorance of the past, can create irresponsibility in the present and recklessness in the future. This morning, were going to begin with the battle of midway. Its my pleasure to introduce richard b. Frank. A internationally recognized historian. He wrote, the pacific war will inspire a long overdue reawakening of the strategic importance, sheer scale and unsurpassed savagery of the wars unleashed by japan. The bad el of midway was the turning of the tide. Please welcome mr. Richard b. Frank. [ applause ] thank you very much, were here in the 75th year anniversary. Of the battle of midway. It is on the perennial list of the most important battles of world war ii, its cited as the single most important naval battle in the United States naval history, usually listed as among the most decisive naval battles in all of history. Its an enthralling story thats been told a number of times. We dont have the time to go into all the details of it today. In a sparse outline, let me point out the battle, from our perspective was one of a great triumph against odds. Particularly, radio int intelligence. The key figure in this is joseph roachford. Joe roachford is now a legendary figure, better remembered than many dozens of admirals who served in world war ii, i would submit to you, those of you who are students an inspur ace, those of you who are feeling your efforts are not appreciated. When he was in the Training Program in 1919, this individual should not be entrusted with important responsibilities. The information he provided enabled chester nimitz to station his carriers off the island of midway. Decades after the event, we learned there was more back story to this than we knew at the time. President roosevelt had appointed nimitz. His immediate boss quite bluntly did not think nimitz was fit for the job and showed it in various ways. Nimitz and king were in conflict over what the japanese move was going to be. King based on his radio intelligence people. Nimitz believed it was midway that was the target he was right and his boss was wrong, which he did. The battle itself was commanded by admiral fletcher. It was a battle that came down to the professionalism, skill and sheer valor of the ships task forces off midway. Our aviators suffered tremendous losses. Those who flu from midway and the carriers. Among those were the members of tornado squadron eight. They losted 15 aircraft that morning. Only one crew man survived. 6 of 41 toerpd planes that flew that morning returned to the flight deck. We are fortunate today to have with us three actual veterans of the battle i talked to them beforehand. There is a natural kronnal to the consequence of their recollections of that event. Were going to go to that, and move through that. We had scheduled captain Jack Crawford who unfortunately is note yet here with us im sorry, john crawford, should he get here in time, maybe well have a chance to hear from him were going to start with jack holder was with patrol squadron 23. Jack and as a matter of fact, you were with the squadron at the time of the attack on pearl harbor. December 12, 1940. You all deployed from there to Midway Island for the battle of midway. I got to midway may 26th, 12942. He was flying in a catalina pby, which was a high wing twin engle patrol bomber. Your position on the aircraft was as Flight Engineer. What did that involve . Well, years ago, aircraft, required a lot of instrumentation. The aircraft today mostly could fill these controls were for the engine and fuel system and things like that . Yes. I didnt know the Flight Engineer started the engine many his aircraft was one of the aircraft that would fly, it flew the most important misch that morning. Because of the intelligence weve been provided, theyve been set up to conduct searches in certain sectors where the japanese carriers were expected. Actually, there was an aircraft lead of you that saw the incoming japanese flight . We left midway on a deviation of seven degrees and the pilot to our left, spotted the fleet first when they reported a position, we flew to that position. You all reported the presence of two japanese carriers . Yes. I should point out that although there were four japanese carriers in their carrier task force, this initial sighting only saw two of them initially. This would cause ripples during the day. What was interesting, when we were talking about this, theres this moment when you see the japanese carriers, you continue on with your mission for hours after that. 13 hours that day. And in fact as you are flying that mission, you dont know whats going on at midway . Thats right. We lost all contact with midway, we didnt know if we controlled it or japanese had it. Their bombing attack that morning knocked out the radio, and you could not pick up anything . No. You didnt know who held midway at that point . Thats right. What did you do . We continued to search and did exactly what we were supposed to do when we went out. We reported several mission ships. Early in the afternoon, we struck gold, we caught a submarine attempting to submerge. We dropped the first 500 on the fan tail, made a circle and dropped another five right behind the tower. Made six circles around it watching it sink. We had a great day. Since you didnt know what was going on at midway, what did you do toward the end of the mission then . Later on, after we found out we lost all the contact, we had an option, we could take a chance on going back to midway or sit down at sea. It was unanimous, we sit down at sea. I took a sleeping bag, climbed on top of the wing, and spent the night. At sun up we made contact with midway. We were told there was a destroyer loaded with fuel. We loaded, refueled and went to midway. After the battle were searching for our downed air crew . Late in the afternoon, we found two gentlemen low on fuel. They landed, picked up the gentlem gentleman. Tell us how long you were on the enterprise. September 1941, until august of 45 when the bomb was dropped in nagasaki. How many Commanding Officers did you have to break in . Nine. Your job during that period, can you describe how you moved through those jobs . I started as a seaman first class, make a yeoman first class. Im not sure. I worked in the captains office the entire term, reported the enterprise there. And through a bunch of successes i was able to move rapidly, and i was put in charge of the office when i became a first class yeoman and i kept that job when i became chief. And i had that job for 23 months. You had the whole war on the most famous ship in the uss enterprise . Amen, brother. I should point out for historians, someone like this is a wonderful person, hes near the great and powerful as they talk and make decisions. You can go to people like this and find out what really happened as opposed to what is in the memoir of the regulation later. Before we get to midway, you had a story i wanted to have you share with people. This is on the transit enterprise is going with hornet to deliver the raiders. Youre cruising through. Its dark and foggy. You had an encountrier with the high and mighty . I did. I delivered a message from the captain, up to the admirals bridge. Good friend of mine started climbing down the ladder, and instead of hits that hard steal catwalk, i hit something soft, and about that time i heard a voice say to me damn you. I recognized william f. Bull halsey. I was shivering in my shoes that i took off like a shot, after i said yes sir to him, and he never caught me. So we have here the last surviving american seaman who outran american halsey. I had one more little incident on the same cruise where i was standing the midnight watch. It was 20 minutes of one, as i recall it. I was feeling sleepy, i went on the port wing of the bridge. Dog gone it, if i didnt lean ill tell you, i scooted in a hurry, took off my pea coat, somebody said, i dont know who he was wearing a pea coat. Thats the resourcefulness with which our armed forces are known. Lets move on to the actual battle itself. Youre up with the captain on the captains bridge. Youre there all day long. You hear the messages . Yes, i did. Do you remember any particular messages . 9 30 in the morning i understand from this gentleman that his message came through. Japanese fleet spotted including two carriers from my recollection. So you saw the takeoff of the enterprise aircraft, i assume . They the admirals said everybody take off. Youre there on the bridge and, of course, now, eventually the aircraft comes back, theres not as many coming back as went out . Exactly right. We were talking about this, the relationship of the air group and the Ships Company is very close. Tell us about how the reaction of the crew was, when the aircraft come back. Well, first of all, the scene was very bad, i didnt hear of any tears being shed, it was very close to that. And among the torpedo squadron, we sent out 14 torpedo bombers, only 4 came back. As our planes came back, many failed to make it. I think there were 20 some all together from the enterprise that were unable to come back. Every one of us could feel we were losing something great. Among the flyers. You remember those gentlemen . Yes, i remember them quite well. Dick, he was the skipper of the bombing sixth group. And he led the attack on the carrier. For some strange reason, there was a mixup that occurred and probably 28 or 29 planes. And only three attacked the acogi, and best led the way, and hes just made a perfect dive and landed his thousand pound bomb in one of the most vulnerable spots in that carrier. The bomb went down through the flight deck, detonated in the hanger deck, what should they have there but a full compliment of japanese toerpd planes, all gassed up, armed to the teeth. And it was a holocaust waiting to happen, thats what happened. And then he went out and would fly a second mission, despite the fact that he had serious problems. He did. Sir, he was batting 1,000 at that point, he went out later that afternoon, his plane not having been shot up very badly, he went out and helped attacked the last survivor carrier. And escorted another hit, which gave him 1,000 batting average. He never flew again for the navy after that, unfortunately he had an oxygen problem and inhaled some caustic soda which resulted in a rapid case of tb. Took him several years to recover from it. He retired from the navy, recovered from that, and lived a very productive civilian life, until the year 2001. I was fortunate enough to meet him, as bill says. The enterprise dive bomber groups, there are two squadrons. They were diving on the nearest carrier dick had the presence of mind to realize it would leave them cover ed if he had not scored that hit, he would have travelled on through the battles. And dustys memoir, he was 3 out of 4 in his dives at midway. Is that right . Yeah, he hit the acoga. And the macuma. And ft. Iverson. His wonderful memoir called, never call me a hero just came out, now, you stayed aboard the enterprise for the whole war. The enterprise is the greatest moments were to come later in the year around guadalcanal. Let me stop that there. And you can rest your heels. Let me go now to john. He was aboard the yorktown. Right. Tell us about when you got to the yorktown . Well, i joined the navy like these fellas and prior to the war, i was in high school in georgia, and had to cross the street, get on the school bus and stand in front of the post office. They had this big sign with goggles and standing on the wing of an airplane with a parachute hanging, it said high school graduates, join the navy and learn to fly. That was for me. To cut my story short, it was latter 43 before i got the Flight Training in norman, oklahoma. Anyway, i graduated from boot camp on friday december 3rd. And sunday the yaps blew a whole in my orders to go to pensacola. They sent all of us guys to the fleet that had returned from north atlantic patrol. And the yorktown was a dry dock at newport news. We went aboard and issueds us dungarees. We got beneath the yorktown and scraped the barnacles and grass off it. Then we went through the florida straights. Arrived there the day after christmas and stayed a couple days. And took a convoy of marines, a whole battalion down to samoa and dropped them off. We didnt go in, our little battle fleet, two cruisers and four destroyers, we went west, and another carrier came over the horizon and an sbd took off and landed on our ship. And this guy got out the back seat, you talk about halsey. Im a sky lookout. And im looking down at the deck. This guy got out of the plane. This plane handler slapped him on the back and said, hey, chief, that was a good landing. And he took the liftoff, had three stars on there. He had come over to confer with our admiral fletcher. And they got their Heads Together and without approval for us, we went and bombed the marshall and gilbert islands, which was the first retaliatory strike of the war. Then we went to pearl harbor. February 2nd and bodies were still breaking louis from the wreckage. All sorts of mess over. And so people like me who had if you want to speak to someone with a little authority on yorktown. I have as little as anybody. We said on working the parties. We run a canvas under you couldnt touch them. We would roll them in and we developed a great hate for our japanese friends there. A lot of the boys were killed in their bunks. We stayed there for a while and gathered up our skirtings. We were underway for 104 days. Lex got shot up, we went down to an island call ed tongatabu. We got everybody settled in, we got a message from pearl harbor. Back then they called it commander in chief, spelled Something Like siksa. They decided that wasnt very good for moral and they changed it. I remember standing around, watching the tables all the way to pearl, we were concerned the japanese submarines would find that streak and follow us. But we went into pearl, went around dry dock and got rid of people like me. We were told to get out of there in 72 hours. Admiral nimitz was down with his staff, walking with his staff in the dry dock with waders on. Just briefly, as john said, yorktown was hit by several bombs, originally they thought it would be a three week job in a navy yard to repair, admiral nimitz realized the japanese were going to make this main effort at midway, he ordered yorktown back to pearl harbor and gave the dock yard people orders she has to be ready for sea in three days or 72 hours. It was a frantic effort as you can imagine to do all this. Our other veteran, mr. Crawford, in fact, reported at this time, he was fresh out of annapolis, he told me that when he reported aboard, he was sent to the second officer to get his assignment. Which was jocko clark at the time he told mr. Crawford needed to find his place, theyd get back to him later. He was trained as a radar officer, but never going so see a radar on the yorktown. Whey wanted to do i want you to describe where your battle station was during the battle. Let me search for your record. The battle of midway would have been fought with six carriers, the same six carriers that bombed pearl harbor. We sank one and heavily damaged the other two. They only had four carriers up there, thanks to the battle of the carl sea. The enterprise was our sister ship. We were proud of the enterprise. Shes one that lucked out. The original group of the yorktown class that survived. We got underway at the end of the 72 hours, they worked day and night, and we were going out the slot between malakai and oahu recovering planes, and we taken to fire group board first. And the Fighter Squadron skipper landed first naturally, and he dropped his nose, built up a little air speed and floatsed on top of him. The propeller chopped him up and left streaks and balls and left streaks of blood on the superstructurement his son is the Naval Academy graduate retired from the navy, lives in charleston and we see him every june 4 when we have the reunion. Anyway, we went on out because nimitz had told us to take position 150 miles northeast of midway which he called point luck. Our skipper, our admiral, admiral fletcher was sofa, senior officer present afloat and the one you had on the enterprise it wound up taking over after we got shot up. But im getting ahead of myself. Anyway, on the day of june 4, i was a sky lookout and i could hear the admiral and the captain talking just down below me. And we heard the pby, the first one, say they had spotted back and forth. And we were saying where the hell are they . So later on we got another message i guess from your pby that they had spotted two carriers so we knew where the japs were. So admiral fletcher said to captain buckmaster, he said signal the enterprise because they had the rear admiral on board who was second in command to him and tell him to launch full deck loads from the enterprise and the hornet. And well follow as soon as we recover our scouts because we had the scout duty that day so anyway they launched it, our scouts returned this is one of the details about the battle that sometimes get confused. The yorktown had launched the local search with their scout bombers, their sbds that morning, so