On the morning of June 4, 1942, 41 Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers launched from three American plane carriers to assault the Japanese fleet at Halfway. Of these 41 plane, 35 have been shot down. Their torpedoes scored no hits. Their crews died in numbers that also stagger the creativeness. Of these 82 airmen who flew that day, solely 12 survived.
But their sacrifice modified the course of historical past. By stopping the Japanese from launching their very own strikes and by drawing each Japanese Zero all the way down to sea degree, the torpedo bombers cleared the sky for American dive bombers to reach unopposed. By the top of the day, all 4 Japanese carriers have been destroyed.
Together with 158 different pilots, the three squadron commanders who led these assaults, Lt. Cmdr. John Waldron, Lt. Cmdr. Eugene Lindsey and Lt. Cmdr. Lance Massey, every obtained the Navy Cross, the nation’s second-highest award for valor. For 83 years, a small group of advocates has argued they deserved extra.
Now, with the help of the Navy’s prime historian and a member of Congress, a retired Marine main believes he has assembled the proof to lastly get them the Medal of Honor.
A Marine’s A long time-Lengthy Mission
Maj. Thomas Rychlik, USMC (Ret.), has spent greater than a decade constructing the case for these three males.
As a younger man, he learn Walter Lord’s “Unimaginable Victory,” the definitive account of Halfway. In 1967, he purchased a paperback copy and skim it repeatedly. The story of what the torpedo bomber pilots did that day by no means left him.
“Valor was everywhere in the battlefield,” Rychlik stated. “I used to be impressed. It’s one of many causes I wished to attend the Naval Academy”
Rychlik graduated from Annapolis and spent 20 years as a Marine infantry officer. Whereas on lively responsibility, the conviction that these males deserved the Medal of Honor took maintain. However he had a household and a profession. After absolutely retiring in 2018, he started digging into main supply paperwork, ship logs and after-action stories that had been categorised or neglected for many years.
What he discovered, he believes, modifications all the things.
The Battle of Halfway
The TBD Devastator was already out of date by June 1942. It was gradual, with a most velocity of 110 mph when lugging a 2000 pound torpedo. Its Mark 13 torpedo was unreliable, typically working erratically, sinking instantly or failing to detonate in any respect. To have any probability of hitting, pilots needed to fly low and straight towards their targets, immediately into the enamel of Japanese antiaircraft fireplace and fighter defenses.
“That is what makes these males so heroic,” Rychlik stated. “They knew there was such a bit probability of hitting, however they nonetheless went forward and did it.”
What drove them to threat their lives in defective tools with unreliable weapons? Six months of fury and the prospect at payback.
“All of those guys have been so offended on the Japanese for Pearl Harbor,” Rychlik stated. “They hadn’t been in a position to do a complete lot about it since. They knew that they had an opportunity at vengeance on the Japanese. Very younger males, so offended that they have been keen to do something they may to get again at them.”
On June 4, 1942, the Japanese service fleet approached Halfway. The American aviators lastly had their probability to strike again.
The Man Who Disobeyed Orders and Discovered the Enemy
Lt. Cmdr. John Waldron was 41 years outdated, born in South Dakota with Lakota Sioux blood in his veins. He had graduated close to the underside of his Naval Academy class, however he was probably the most expert aviators within the fleet.
He commanded Torpedo Squadron 8 aboard the USS Hornet. He had educated his younger pilots arduous, drilling them relentlessly whereas different squadrons watched with laughter and derision. His was the one squadron that frequently exercised on deck. He put in makeshift armor round crew seats and doubled the defensive firepower of their rear-facing machine weapons. His males revered him, calling him “The Indian.”
The evening earlier than the battle, Waldron instructed his males, “If there is just one airplane left to make the ultimate run in, I need that man to go in and get successful.”
On the morning of June 4, Waldron stood on the bridge of the Hornet in a heated argument with Capt. Marc Mitscher and Air Group Commander Stanhope Ring. Waldron had been arguing for shut fighter escort, however Mitscher refused.
Then got here the dispute over navigation. Ring, who had a questionable monitor document discovering targets, insisted on a course of 265 levels to intercept the Japanese fleet. Waldron, who had completed his personal calculations based mostly on the morning’s sighting stories, knew it was unsuitable. He argued for a extra southwesterly heading of 240 levels, the identical course the Enterprise and Yorktown air teams would fly.
Waldron had motive to mistrust Ring’s navigation. Throughout earlier operations within the Caribbean, Ring had gotten misplaced and could not discover his personal plane service with all the air group behind him. One of many pilots needed to plot a course to get them dwelling.
“He felt that he was higher certified,” Rychlik stated. “Ring was senior however didn’t have important time within the cockpit, did not have the expertise main plane and males that Waldron did.”
Mitscher overruled Waldron. He was ordered to fly Ring’s course.
After launch, Waldron adopted orders for about quarter-hour. Then he broke radio silence and tried yet another time to persuade Ring he was going the unsuitable method.
“You are going the unsuitable course for the Japanese service power,” Waldron radioed.
Ring was livid. “I am main this flight,” he snapped again. “You fly proper right here.”
“Nicely, the hell with you,” Waldron replied. “I do know the place they’re and I’ll them.”
Waldron banked his squadron southwest, alone, with out fighter escort, away from the remainder of the Hornet air group.
Waldron had attended legislation faculty. He knew the distinction between an illegal order and a lawful one. Ring’s order was totally lawful. Waldron selected to disobey it anyway, figuring out that if he was unsuitable and survived, his profession was over. He may have been court-martialed.
“I needed to put myself within the cockpit,” Rychlik stated. “If he stays along with his air group, he in all probability will get again to his ship and does not get charged with disobeying an order. However he stated, ‘I do know the place they’re.’ He had the ethical fortitude to say, ‘I am keen to get court-martialed if I get again to my ship, however I am doing this.’ I do not suppose I may have completed that.”
Waldron discovered the Japanese service fleet at 9:20 a.m. Ring flew west over empty ocean. His fighters ran out of gasoline and crashed into the ocean. His dive bombers returned to the ship with out ever discovering the enemy.
At 9:20, Torpedo Squadron 8 attacked alone, with out fighter escort. Each Zero within the fleet descended on them. The Devastators held course because the fighters made cross after cross, ripping via their formations. The Japanese pilots targeted on the chief.
All 15 plane have been shot down. Twenty-nine of 30 males have been killed. Solely Ensign George Homosexual survived, floating amid the wreckage because the battle raged above him.
However Waldron’s assault had compelled the Japanese fight air patrol all the way down to sea degree. The huge smoke from anti-aircraft fireplace, ship maneuvering and burning plane marked the fleet’s location for the squadrons that adopted. And critically, the Japanese carriers have been tied up servicing their fighters as an alternative of arming the strike plane that might have destroyed the newly found American fleet.
“If Waldron does not do what he does, break free from the air group and discover the Japanese, loads of what occurs later does not occur,” Rychlik stated. “The Japanese CAP has all of the altitude and ammunition to defend in opposition to the dive bombers after they present up.”
The Commander Who Ought to Not Have Flown
Lt. Cmdr. Eugene Lindsey had commanded Torpedo Squadron 6 aboard the USS Enterprise for practically two years. He was probably the most skilled torpedo airplane pilots within the Navy, having already earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for main assaults in opposition to Japanese transport at Kwajalein and Wake Island.
On Could 28, because the Enterprise sortied from Pearl Harbor for what would change into the Battle of Halfway, Lindsey’s TBD crashed whereas trying to land. He was pulled from the water by a destroyer. He had a punctured lung, damaged ribs, extreme lacerations to his face and chest, and a badly injured again.
He spent the following seven days in sick bay.
On the morning of June 4, Lt. Cmdr. Wade McClusky noticed Lindsey within the wardroom at breakfast. His face was nonetheless swollen, the therapeutic gash throughout his brow nonetheless seen. He moved stiffly, his ribs nonetheless taped. He was pale from blood loss.
“You look fairly beat up, Skipper,” one among his pilots instructed him. “You actually really feel effectively sufficient to fly right now?”
Lindsey checked out him.
“That is the actual factor right now,” he stated. “The factor we have been coaching for. I am going to take the squadron in.”
His accidents have been so extreme he could not climb into his personal plane. His airplane captain had to assist carry him into the cockpit. His face was so swollen he could not put on his goggles.
Rychlik consulted a retired Navy flight surgeon about Lindsey’s accidents. Based on Rychlik, her evaluation was unequivocal. Within the present Navy, and even from the ’90s and 2000s, there isn’t any method he would have been allowed to fly. That may have been the case throughout WWII as effectively.
Lindsey had one thing else on his thoughts as effectively. Only a yr earlier, one other torpedo squadron commander, Lt. Joe Taylor, had crashed in comparable circumstances. Taylor described being trapped underwater as his cover jammed shut, breaking the bones in each fingers as he beat his method via the plexiglass to flee. He had shredded the pores and skin on his arms and fingers to save lots of himself. Lindsey had simply lived via practically the identical trauma. He realized that if he was shot down and needed to ditch, he won’t be capable to get out.
He led his squadron anyway.
His males knew their skipper’s situation. They’d seen him lowered into his cockpit. They knew he in all probability could not survive a water touchdown. And so they adopted him with out hesitation.
“The boys in his squadron knew his compromised place,” Rychlik stated. “They thought, if the Skipper is doing it, we’re doing it.”
Torpedo Squadron 6 discovered the Japanese fleet by following the smoke from Waldron’s assault. With no fighter escort, they too pressed their assault. As they closed on the carriers, Lindsey cut up his power to aim an “anvil” assault from two instructions. Over 30 Zeros attacked. One after one other, the Devastators fell into the ocean because the bullets tore into their engines, controls, gasoline tanks and pilots.
Ten of the 14 plane have been shot down. Lindsey was among the many lifeless. The 4 surviving planes have been so badly broken that one needed to be pushed overboard after touchdown. None of their torpedoes hit.
Their assault continued to occupy the Japanese fight air patrol, spreading mass confusion among the many Japanese service crews. Because the Japanese tried to combat off the remaining torpedo bombers, American dive bombers arrived on scene.
The Commander Who Went After the Last Provider
Lt. Cmdr. Lance Massey commanded Torpedo Squadron 3 from the USS Yorktown. On Feb. 1, 1942, he had change into the primary American torpedo airplane pilot in historical past to attain a confirmed hit in opposition to an enemy ship, sinking the 18,000-ton Japanese transport Bordeaux Maru at Kwajalein. In a conflict the place American torpedoes failed extra typically than they labored, Massey’s was one of many few that scored a kill.
The evening earlier than Halfway, Massey gathered a few of his officers in his stateroom and produced a bottle of Scotch. He instructed them the percentages have been lengthy. Once they went out tomorrow, he stated, he did not see how they’d ever get again.
Not like Torpedo 8 and Torpedo 6, Massey’s squadron launched with six Wildcat fighters as escort, led by Lt. Cmdr. Jimmy Thach, inventor of the well-known “Thach Weave” defensive maneuver. Seventeen dive bombers flew above them. However as they approached the Japanese fleet, all the things fell aside.
Torpedo Squadron 3 noticed the smoke from Waldron’s and Lindsey’s assaults and altered course towards it. As they closed on the fleet, between 36 and 43 Zeros attacked. Thach’s fighters did what they may, however they have been hopelessly outnumbered. He managed to get 5 of his six pilots again to the Yorktown.
Then Massey noticed one thing that modified all the things. The dive bombers from Enterprise had arrived and have been tearing into the carriers Kaga and Akagi. The Yorktown’s dive bombers have been hitting Soryu. Three of the 4 Japanese carriers have been below assault or already burning.
One service remained untouched, the Hiryu, farthest from Massey’s squadron.
Massey made a brave determination that in the end sealed his destiny. Based on an account from Rear Adm. Samuel Cox, Director of the Naval Historical past and Heritage Command, “Massey led his TBDs in opposition to the service Hiryu, already steaming at most velocity in the wrong way, leading to one more prolonged tail chase.”
It was a demise sentence. The nearer carriers would have been simpler targets. Attacking Hiryu meant flying even additional via Zero-infested airspace, giving the Japanese fighters extra time to select off his slow-moving torpedo bombers one after the other.
However Massey understood that he piled onto Soryu like doctrine urged, Hiryu’s fight air patrol could be free to bolster the opposite carriers or intercept the dive bombers. By attacking Hiryu, he would draw its defenders to his personal squadron, occupying them through the crucial moments when the dive bombers have been destroying the opposite three carriers. Greatest case situation, perhaps they may even rating successful on the ultimate enemy service.
“He may have piled on the nearer Soryu,” Rychlik stated. “However he noticed there was one service not being attacked, and he went after it.”
The Zeros shortly gave chase. A couple of mile from Hiryu, Massey’s airplane was hit, burst into flames and headed for the water. Witnesses noticed him rise up in his seat because the plane crashed into the ocean.
Of his 12 plane, 10 have been shot down. The 2 survivors have been so badly broken they needed to ditch earlier than reaching the Yorktown. None of their torpedoes hit.
What Rychlik found in his analysis was that Capt. Elliott Buckmaster, commander of the Yorktown, had advisable Massey for the Medal of Honor. Rychlik discovered notes and paperwork indicating that Buckmaster made the advice, although he has not been in a position to find the precise award documentation itself.
The Yorktown was torpedoed and ultimately sunk shortly after the engagement. With that, Buckmaster’s advice was by no means thought of by Admiral Chester Nimitz’s awards board.
“I discovered notes and paperwork exhibiting he was advisable,” Rychlik stated. “However I’ve not been capable of finding the letter itself. It is misplaced to historical past.”
The Sacrifice That Gained the Battle
The timeline tells the story of victory. Waldron initiated the assault. His sacrifice allowed Lindsey to identify the enemy fleet and launch his personal assault. Massey selected to place himself in peril to attract enemy defenses away from the carriers as Lt. Cmdr. McClusky led his dive bombers over the Japanese fleet.
By the point the dive bombers started their assault, there was not a single Zero at altitude to oppose them. Each Japanese fighter was at sea degree, chasing torpedo bombers or returning to their carriers for gasoline and ammunition.
Due to the confusion and chaos, the torpedo bombers brought about, Japanese plane have been on or under deck switching out armament or being refueled. Gasoline strains, uncovered ammunition and explosives, torpedoes and bombs have been sprawled throughout the deck because the crews frantically tried to get the planes again into the air.
Inside the span of 5 minutes, planes from Enterprise and Yorktown put deadly bombs into Kaga, Akagi and Soryu. Because the bombs punched via the service decks, they ignited an enormous fireball of explosives that despatched all three ships to the underside of the Pacific.
“Even Dick Greatest admitted the torpedo bomber pilots received the Battle of Halfway, regardless of what he did,” Rychlik stated.
Greatest arrived over the Japanese fleet to search out calm skies and no fighter opposition. The Zeros have been all at sea degree selecting off the torpedo bombers. He dove on the Akagi via a hail of anti-aircraft fireplace, giving him simply sufficient house to show the tide of the battle.
The success of the dive bombers was secured by the sacrifice of Waldron, Lindsey, Massey and their males. The lack of the Japanese carriers altered all the course of the battle.
The Navy’s Preliminary Assessments
Each aviator who attacked the Japanese carriers that day obtained the Navy Cross. One notable exception was Marine Capt. Richard Fleming, who obtained the Medal of Honor for attacking the cruiser Mikuma on June 5. His enlisted gunner, Pfc. George Toms, obtained the Distinguished Flying Cross.
However these Marines flew from Halfway Island, and his award went via the Marine Corps chain of command. Confronted by all these endorsements, Admiral Nimitz had no alternative however to approve it. No sailor below Nimitz’s command obtained the Medal of Honor for Halfway, regardless of the large gravity of what had occurred.
Rychlik believes a number of elements clarify this, beginning with the truth that Nimitz merely did not have the complete image.
Capt. George Murray, commanding the Enterprise, selected to not point out Lindsey’s earlier crash, his accidents or the extraordinary circumstances of his closing flight in his after-action report.
“It might have mirrored negatively on Murray for letting him fly that day,” Rychlik stated. “The case for the Medal of Honor by no means made it to Nimitz.”
In the meantime, Capt. Marc Mitscher filed an after-action report claiming the Hornet air group had flown a course of 239 levels, not 265. He lied, as an alternative claiming he flew the route that Waldron really did. Within the Nineteen Eighties, a retired Marine main named Bowen Weisheit interviewed surviving pilots from the Hornet air group.
With few exceptions, they remembered flying “westerly,” “nearly due west,” or “at 265 levels.” One pilot pointed to the chart and stated, “We went the unsuitable method to begin with.”
Rear Adm. Raymond Spruance was skeptical of the contradiction. Within the opening paragraph of his personal report back to Nimitz, he wrote that when there have been disparities between the Hornet’s report and the others, the Enterprise account must be taken as extra correct.
“It’s fairly damning for him to say that in paragraph one,” Rychlik stated. “However Nimitz didn’t pursue the matter.”
Lastly, the lack of the Yorktown and the demise of most witnesses to Massey’s actions prevented his award from ever going up the chain of command.
There was additionally a deeper challenge the Navy did not need to acknowledge. That may be the torpedo scandal and the very fact the torpedo bombers have been horribly outdated and flawed planes.
“If that they had awarded these guys the Medal of Honor, they might be acknowledging they have been sending these guys to their deaths with defective tools,” Rychlik stated. “The torpedoes have been dangerous. The planes have been dangerous.”
This is not the primary effort to win these males the Medal of Honor. In 1981, a gaggle of Waldron’s surviving Naval Academy classmates tried to make the case for all three. The hassle failed as a result of it relied solely on secondary sources.
Even Mitscher himself tried to get Waldron the Medal of Honor. He failed as effectively.
The Navy’s Reluctance to Improve Awards
On prime of all the things, the Navy throughout WWII was extraordinarily reluctant to award the Medal of Honor to anybody. The Navy suffered excessive losses and witnessed numerous examples of extraordinary heroism within the opening assault at Pearl Harbor. Fifteen sailors earned the award through the bombing, sparking backlash amongst navy management and politicians as to why so many awards got for such a disastrous occasion.
Going ahead, the Navy hesitated numerous occasions to embellish its sailors with the award and the numbers show it. Throughout WWII, the Army, together with the Army Air Drive, awarded 341 Medals of Honor. The Marine Corps awarded 82. The Navy awarded simply 57, of which, 15 have been for Pearl Harbor alone.
However the actual disparity is in what has occurred since. The Army has repeatedly reviewed and upgraded awards when new proof emerged or when prejudice was discovered to have influenced authentic choices.
In 1997, President Clinton awarded seven Medals of Honor to Black troopers whose valor in WWII had been neglected as a result of racism, together with 1st Lt. Vernon Baker and Employees Sgt. Ruben Rivers.
In 2000, 22 Japanese-American troopers from the 442nd Regimental Fight Crew obtained upgrades, together with Senator Daniel Inouye. The 2014 Valor 24 initiative upgraded one other 24 Distinguished Service Crosses to Medals of Honor for troopers from WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
The Navy, in response to Rychlik, has been way more reluctant. “The Navy has solely completed it twice since World Struggle II,” he stated.
However there’s current precedent for hope. In February 2026, President Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to Capt. Royce Williams, a 100-year-old Navy pilot whose 1952 dogfight in opposition to seven Soviet MiG-15s had been categorised for many years.
Williams had initially obtained a Silver Star, upgraded to the Navy Cross in 2023, and at last the Medal of Honor after Congress handed laws waiving the statute of limitations. The hassle took greater than a decade and required the backing of over 120 admirals and generals.
The Marine Corps additionally just lately introduced that Capt. John Ripley and Maj. James Capers Jr. are to obtain the award for his or her heroic actions and sacrifices through the Vietnam Struggle.
Even the Air Drive, after a lot congressional effort and pushback from the Navy, upgraded Grasp Sergeant John Chapman’s posthumous Air Drive Cross to the Medal of Honor in 2018.
For Rychlik, these circumstances show it may be completed. The query is whether or not the Navy will apply the identical customary to the aviators who helped win the Battle of Halfway.
The Combat Continues
In 2021, 4 members of Congress wrote to the Secretary of the Navy requesting a assessment of the case. The Navy’s Council of Assessment Boards rejected the request with out even consulting the Naval Historical past and Heritage Command.
Rychlik filed FOIA requests and found the Navy had “no evidentiary info within the data” to justify its response.
Then got here a breakthrough. In August 2025, Rear Adm. Cox wrote a letter stating that the three squadron commanders “would seemingly have been awarded Medals of Honor had the knowledge been obtainable in 1942 to Admiral Nimitz and his employees.”
Cox concluded that earlier critiques have been “professional forma” and advisable the case be submitted to the Secretary of the Navy for assessment.
“Somebody who’s the Navy’s prime historian and is aware of rather a lot concerning the Battle of Halfway is keen to exit and acknowledge what these guys did is particular,” Rychlik stated. “It is fairly critical.”
Critics would possibly argue that the torpedo bombers scored no hits and sank no carriers. However sinking a ship alone doesn’t earn the Medal of Honor. The award requires “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity on the threat of life above and past the decision of responsibility.” It’s concerning the nature of the sacrifice, not merely the consequence.
Rear Adm. Nevin Carr, a Naval Academy classmate of Rychlik’s who reviewed the analysis, framed it by way of consequence. Carr noticed {that a} Marine who jumps on a grenade to save lots of his buddies is unlikely to have an effect on the result of a battle, however is absolutely deserving of the award. What these torpedo bomber pilots did was equally as heroic but additionally modified the course of all the Pacific Struggle and certain the course of historical past itself.
“Halfway is the best naval victory in U.S. Navy historical past,” Rychlik stated. “These males should be acknowledged for what they did to win it.”
The Households They Left Behind
Cmdr. Lance B. Massey USN (Ret.) was 5 years outdated when his father was killed at Halfway. His mom, widowed twice by naval aviators, not often spoke of her late husband.
“I realized extra about my father within the final 10 years than I ever knew earlier than,” Lance stated of Rychlik’s efforts.
Nonetheless, his father’s sacrifice formed his total life. Lance adopted his father into naval aviation, graduating from the Naval Academy and flying greater than 200 fight missions over North Vietnam. He retired after 30 years within the Navy. His son adopted his footsteps into the navy.
“I felt the entire time I used to be within the Navy it was due to my father,” he stated.
The household has all the time been happy with the Navy Cross. However after eight many years and a number of failed efforts to improve the award, Lance has realized to not get his hopes up.
“I’d be shocked if it ever occurs. I am 89 years outdated,” he stated. “I will not be round anymore. My son will likely be. Possibly in the event that they do give it to my father, he’ll be the one which accepts it.”
Susan Vicedomini, Lindsey’s granddaughter, grew up listening to tales about her grandfather. Her mom had simply turned three when Lindsey was killed.
“There is just one image that she ever owned that reveals her with him,” Vicedomini stated. “It’s blurry, she was only a child.”
The household knew Lindsey had been injured earlier than the battle, however not the extent of it.
“We all the time heard that he was banged up and in sick bay,” Vicedomini stated. “I by no means heard he could not placed on his personal goggles or needed to be lowered into the cockpit.”
To her, that hidden element is what makes her grandfather’s sacrifice extraordinary.
“It’s one factor to say ‘if I am going out, I could not return’, however to exit with the extent of accidents he had, he was already working whereas hampered,” she stated. “Nobody would have thought twice if he stayed in sick bay. To me, that’s the step above and past.”
Her mom handed away in 2017. Now, each time Vicedomini learns one thing new about her grandfather from Rychlik, her first thought is to name her.
“However I can not,” she stated. “It is bittersweet.”
If the Medal of Honor is awarded, she stated, “It is verification that each one the household tales of him going above and past meant one thing and the nation acknowledges it meant one thing.”
Ready for Justice
In November 1945, a clearly uncomfortable Nimitz got here head to head with Waldron’s sister Isle when he offered a posthumous Navy Cross to the household on behalf of her son, Commander George Philip.
Rychlik has {a photograph} from that day. The five-star admiral stands with Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. Nobody within the room seems pleased besides Philip’s widow. Waldron’s sister, who misplaced each her sons within the conflict along with her brother, was clearly conscious of the function Nimitz performed in disapproving of her brother’s Medal of Honor that the South Dakota congressional delegation had requested in 1942.
Rychlik’s room over the storage has change into a shrine to Halfway. His spouse calls his examine “the Halfway room.”
He’s now in common contact with the workplace of Rep. Jen Kiggans of Virginia, whose employees has dedicated to weekly updates as they work to construct Navy and congressional help for a assessment of those circumstances.
Rychlik now believes he has sufficient main supply proof to get the document corrected. His analysis has proven that the Nimitz was unaware of many of those info and selected to not examine Mitscher’s flawed after motion report, stopping every man from receiving the Medal of Honor.
An important facet of the valor all these males, out of date plane and erratic torpedoes, was not one thing that might have been acknowledged by the Navy to justify the awards as it could have disclosed to the Japanese these weaknesses and uncovered the Navy to criticism for sending males into battle with such poor tools.
“To sometime be in the identical room with a few of these households and see them get the award their grandparents deserved,” Rychlik stated. “That may be the crowning achievement of my life.”
Eighty-three years have handed because the morning of June 4, 1942. The boys who flew these missions are lengthy gone. However their households stay, and so does the historic document. The Navy has an opportunity to do what Admiral Nimitz was unable to on the time, acknowledge what John Waldron, Eugene Lindsey and Lance Massey did to win crucial naval battle in trendy historical past.
