THE ROUNDTABLE FORUM
Official newsletter of the Battle of Midway Roundtable
"To promote awareness and understanding of the great battle and to
honor the men who fought and won it."
8 May 2005....................Issue No.
2005-18....................Our 8th Year
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AROUND THE TABLE ...............................................
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MEMBERS'
TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE
1.
Memories of the Coral Sea
2.
Radar on PBYs
3.
BOM Torpedoes Launched By VT Squadrons
4.
BOM Vet Interviews Available at National Archives
5.
Taps for Yorktown Vet Elton E. Brown
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5
May 2005
From:
Richard Brown yorktownbrowncv5@webtv.net
(BOM vet, RM2/c, CTF-17 Staff, USS Yorktown)
This blurb appeared in the Chicago Tribute May 5th: "In 1942 the
Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier
aircraft, began on this date during World War II."
As an aside, do all of us recall the licking the Yorktown took plus
the sinking of the Lexington? Remember the heroic efforts to
save all of the Lexington's personnel, and then finally our own
destroyers sending the "Lex" to her watery grave? Remember
the beating that we, the Yorktown, took that finally ended at
Midway?
As I look back on that date, it reminds me that I was 24 at the time and now at
86 it is a proud memory to have served and to be a part of history, and a proud
member of the Midway Roundtable and the Yorktown veterans group.
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4
May 2005
From: Johan
Lupander pandionutv@tele2.se
(Sweden)
Information on the availability of airborne
search radar on some of the Midway-based PBYs is contradictory and scanty.
When mentioned, it is only in conjunction with the night torpedo attack,
not as a presumably valuable tool when conducting searches in cloudy weather.
Does somebody have information on this?
Were the radar sets, if any, US-manufactured or directly
imported British ASV sets?
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17
April 2005
From: Robert
Holzer holzerrobert@web.de
(Germany)
A
question related to the BoM: in Russel Sydnor Crenshaw Jr.'s book South
Pacific Destroyer, I stumbled over the assertion that the torpedoes of the
three U.S. VT squadrons were of the newer MK 13 type and that this was probably
one reason why they failed to score any hits.
So my questions:
1)
How many fish were actually put into the water by all three VT squadrons?
2)
Were they MK 13 torpedoes?
3)
Is there any claim that a fish hit but scored no damage?
Best
Regards to all,
Robert
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Ed. note: my guess for Robert was something like 20 out of the 41
TBDs may have actually launched their Mk 13 torpedoes at a target,
although it would be very difficult to get an accurate figure due to the chaos
of the attack and the fact that few witnesses survived the ordeal. Can
anyone give better answers to his three questions above?
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6
May 2005
From: Cal
Cavalcante bernard.cavalcante@navy.mil
This
is a collection of materials contained in Box 12: interviews of various
pilots, many of whom appeared to be relating to their experiences in the
Battle of Midway. Perhaps some of the folks in the BOMRT may have an
interest in them. The collection is located at the National Archives site
at College Park, Maryland.
Box 12:
A7-1 Interview of
Lieutenant N.A. Gayler, USN, VF-3, Temporary VF-2(4), USS
LEXINGTON, 17 June 1942
A7-1 Interview of
Lieutenant C. E. Dickinson, Jr., USN, VS-6, USS ENTERPRISE, 10
July 1942
A7-1 Interview of
Lieutenant Commander C.C. Ray, USN, Communications Officer,
USS YORKTOWN, 15 July 1942
A7-1 Interview of
Lieutenant Commander John S. Thach, USN, Commanding Officer,
VF-3, USS SARATOGA, 26 August 1942
A7-1 Interview of Commander
Frank Akers, USN, Navigator, USS HORNET, 10
September 1942
A7-1 Interview of
Lieutenant Harold H. Larsen, USN, VT-8, USS HORNET, 18 January
1943
A7-1 Interview of
Lieutenant H.A. Rowe, USN, Fighter Director, USS ENTERPRISE, 2
March 1943
A7-1 Interview of
Lieutenant H.B. Hayden, USN, Air Operations, USS ENTERPRISE, 4
March 1943
A7-1 Interview of Major
John W. Mitchell, USAAF and Captain Thomas C. Lanphier,
USAAF, P-38 Pilots, Guadalcanal, 18 June 1943
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Ed note: I extracted the above list from
Cal's very large Word document (105 kB). These entries are the ones
that seem to pertain to the BOM's ships & squadrons. An
exception is the last entry, in which many roundtable members will be
interested--Captain Lanphier claimed to have shot down Yamamoto; a claim that
didn't hold up under subsequent investigation.
If anyone wants the entire document, I'll send it to you directly upon
request.
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6
May 2005
From:
Paul Corio paulcorio@alltel.net
I am saddened to report the recent passing of Midway veteran Elton Brown,
who served proudly as a Fireman 3rd Class aboard the Yorktown CV-5.
[Ed. note: the USS Fulton muster shows him an EM3/c in "E"
Division.]
Elton led a remarkable life. After leaving home at age 15, he traveled
across the country to work in shipyards in the northwest before
following his brothers Morris and Robert into the Navy at age 16. All
three brothers served aboard the CV-5; Robert, a plank owner, left the
crew just before Elton came on board.
During the Battle of the Coral Sea, Morris was in the
compartment devastated by a bomb hit which killed 50 men.
Immediately after the strike, Elton rushed into the still burning
compartment, where he vainly searched through the carnage of blast damage
and torn bodies, looking for some sign of his brother. He eventually
would find Morris--in sick bay, burned beyond recognition, one of
just five survivors of Repair Party 5.
To everyone's amazement, the badly injured Morris stayed aboard Yorktown when
the ship steamed for Midway. During the June 4 dive bomber attack on
the CV-5, Elton was stationed on the port catwalk manning one of
several machine guns, blazing away at the attacking Vals when
a bomb tore into the deck just aft of the island. The blast, which
killed 16 of 20 men on Gun Mount 4 and several more on Mount 3, sent
flaming debris rocketing across the deck toward Elton's position. Feeling
himself suddenly showered with warm liquid, Elton turned to see that the sailor
beside him had been decapitated by flying debris; Elton was awash with his
blood. He continued firing at the enemy until he ran out of ammo.
Just after he rushed below for more rounds, brother Morris came on deck to
check on him; he was mortified at the sight of the decapitated
sailor, which he thought was his brother.
A relieved Morris found Elton just before it came time to abandon ship.
As they hit the water, Elton helped pull Morris (who was too hurt to
swim) through the thick oily sludge to a raft packed with wounded; Morris hung
on and watched as the exhausted Elton swam off for a distant
destroyer. Hours later, aboard a submarine tender, Morris watched tensely
as a destroyer came alongside carrying the last load
of survivors. He had only been watching the first few men come
up over the side when the other destroyers had off loaded, knowing his
brother would be one of the first in line. On this final load, Elton was
in fact the very first man to ascend the netting.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Elton at the CV-5 club reunion in
Mobile in 2002 after I addressed the club concerning
my efforts in writing the screenplay The Charge of the
Devastators (since completed). Of the many CV-5 vets who
approached me wanting to be interviewed, Elton was the most enthusiastic
and one of the most prolific contributors. I greatly enjoyed the
conversations we had long into the night at the Mobile and Charleston
reunions, when he regaled me with memorable tales from that special
time. Elton possessed more knowledge about the CV-5 than anyone I
knew, and he greatly enjoyed hearing me say that. Like all CV-5 men, he
was proud of his service and loved his ship. When we walked the deck of the
Yorktown CV-10 together at the Charleston reunion last year, he gave me a
detailed, running account of how much better made his ship was compared to the
CV-10. He was a great champion and promoter of my
screenplay, frequently carrying a copy of it with him, often showing it to
complete strangers. He was grateful and proud that I had worked
his story of heroism and brotherly love into the screenplay.
The upcoming CV-5 reunion in Cincinnati will have a large piece missing without
the presence of Elton Brown, the last of the Yorktown's famous Brown
brothers.
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................................................. NOW
HEAR THIS! ..................................................
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NEWS
& INFO IN THIS ISSUE
--Anniversary
Observance Aboard USS Midway, San Diego
--Final
Sortie for "Casey" Cason
--IJN
Ship Disposition List
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ANNIVERSARY OBSERVANCE ABOARD USS MIDWAY, SAN DIEGO (see issue 5-17)
Here's more info on the 63rd anniversary observance aboard CV-41 at San
Diego. It will be on Friday, 3 June 6:00-9:00 PM. The general
public is invited. Standard museum admission charges will apply.
Refreshments will be served. Attendees are requested to dress
appropriately for this important commemorative occasion. Written
invitations to BOM veterans in the area have not yet been received, but are
expected soon.
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FINAL SORTIE FOR "CASEY" CASON
Roy Gee reports the passing of CAPT Arthur C. Cason, Jr., USN-Ret, on
22 April. Captain Cason was an SBD pilot with VB-8 at the BOM,
and thus a squadron-mate for Roy and also Clay Fisher. Additionally, he
was best man at Roy and Jeanette Gee's wedding on 24 December 1942.
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IJN SHIP DISPOSITION LIST
Here's
a web site that seems to list the final disposition of every warship
of the Imperial Japanese Navy. I've linked this URL on our home
page for future reference. It makes for very interesting reading.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USNatWar/USN-King-A.html
You
can also find this list at the following URL, although it's a simple text
document--the one above is the better of the two.
http://sunsite.tus.ac.jp/pub/academic/history/marshall/military/wwii/CNO.reports/app_a.txt
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