The Battle Of Midway In The Pacific :: War History American Historical Essays

The Battle of halfway in the PacificNothing distinguished the dawn of June 2, 1942, from countless another(prenominal) dawns thathad fallen over tiny middle(prenominal) atoll in the North Pacific. Nothing, that is, butthe tension, the electric tension of men waiting for an enemy to make his move.On Midways two main islands, Sand and Eastern, 3,632 United States dark blue andMarine corps personnel, along with a few Army Air Force aircrews, stood atbattle come ins in and near their fighters, bombers, and flys, waiting forthe Japanese approach they had been expecting for weeks. The toter battle ofMidway, one of the decisive oceanic battles in history, is considerably documented. Butthe role played by the Midway garrison, which manned the naval air station onthe atoll during the battle, is not as well known. Midway lies 1,135 miles west-northwest of Pearl give, Oahu. The entire atoll is barely six miles in diam and consists of Sand and Eastern islands surrounded by a coral bring downenclosing a shallow lagoon. Midway was discovered in 1859 and annexed by theUnited States in August 1867. Between 1903 and 1940, it served both as a cablestation on the Honolulu GuamManila underwater cable line and as an airportfor the Pan American Airways China clipper ship (Miracle 5). In March 1940, after areport on U.S. Navy Pacific bases declared Midway second only to Pearl Harbor inimportance, construction of a formal naval air station began. Midway Naval AirStation was placed in accusation in August 1941. By that time, Midwaysfacilities included a large seaplane hangar and ramps, artificial harbor, fuelstorage tanks and several buildings. Sand Island was be by hundreds ofcivilian construction workers and a defense battalion of the surpass Marine Force,while Eastern Island boasted a 5,300-foot airstrip. Commander Cyril T. Simard, astager naval pilot who had served as air officer on the carrier USS Langley andas executive officer at the San Diego Air Station, was designated the atollscommanding officer. on with the naval personnel manning the air station was adetachment of Marines. The set-back detachment was from the Marine 3rd Defense ingroup it was relieved on September 11, 1941, by 34 officers and 750 menfrom the 6th Defense Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Harold D. Shannon,a veteran of World War I and duty in Panama and Hawaii. Shannon and Simardmeshed into an effective team even off away. World War II began for Midway at 630a.m. December 7, 1941, when the garrison received word of the Japanese attack on