The Battle Of Midway
Nothing distinguished the dawn of June 2, 1942, from countless other dawns that had fallen over tiny Midway atoll in the North Pacific. Nothing, that is, except the tension of the men waiting for the enemy to make their move. On Midway's two main islands, Sand and Eastern, 3,632 United States Navy and Marine Corps personnel, along with a few Army Air Force aircrews, stood at the battle stations in or near fighters, bombers, torpedo planes, and sea planes, waiting for the Japanese attack they had been waiting for weeks. The carrier battle of Midway, one of the decisive naval battles in history, well-documented but, the role played by the Midway garrison, which manned the naval air ...
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Clipper. In March 1940, after a report on U.S. Navy Pacific Bases declared Midway second only to Pearl Harbor in importance, construction of a formal naval air station began.
Midway naval Air Station was placed in commission in August 1941. By that time Midway's facilities included a large sea plane hanger and ramps, artificial harbor, fuel storage tanks and several buildings. Hundreds of civilian construction workers and a defense battalion of the Fleet Marine Force populated Sand Island, while Eastern Island boasted a 5,300-foot airstrip. Commander Cyril T. Simard, a Veteran naval pilot who had served as a air officer on the carrier USS Langley and as executive officer at the San Diego air Station, was designated the atoll', commanding officer.
Along with the naval personnel manning the air station was a detachment of Marines. The first detachment was from the Marine 3rd Defense Battalion, it was relieved on September 11, 1941, by 34 officers and 755 men from the 6th ...
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Shannon and Simard got some good news. The Japanese attack would come between June 3 and 5, giving them another week to prepare. That same day, the light cruiser St. Louis arrived, to deliver an eight-gun, 37mm anti-aircraft battery from the Marine 3rd defense Battalion and two rifle companies from the 2nd Raider Battalion.
By June 1, both Sand and Eastern Island were ringed with coastal defenses. Six 5-inch guns, 22 3-inch guns and four Old Navy 7-inch guns were placed along both coasts of both islands for use as anti air craft and anti boat guns. As many as 1,500 mines and booby traps were laid under water and along the beaches. Ammunition dumps were placed all along the ...
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The Battle Of Midway. (2008, January 12). Retrieved April 24, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Battle-Of-Midway/77358
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"The Battle Of Midway." Essayworld.com. January 12, 2008. Accessed April 24, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Battle-Of-Midway/77358.
"The Battle Of Midway." Essayworld.com. January 12, 2008. Accessed April 24, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Battle-Of-Midway/77358.
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