The Battle of Midway Roundtable Opening Remarks



Welcome to the November Issue of the Battle of Midway RoundTable.  First off apologies for the delay.  The holiday season is a busy one for me and I have not had a lot of spare time.  It also took a bit more time than I anticipated to track down some info for a request that I knew I had somewhere.  I found it on  Chris Hawkinson's website, the information courtesy of Mark Horan.  Speaking of that website, I have downloaded most of it and intend to convert it to pages on the RoundTable.  It is still a great resource.

However getting all the pages back together is kind of like putting a puzzle together as I had to download the website at various dates when it was archived because it was not always saved in its entirety each time it was archived.  So I have a lot of pages that I have to splice together to make one of the original pages whole again or look for an instance where that one page had a full capture.  But I have a start and I'll add pages when I have time.  If I get the front page put back together at least in look if not having all the links working I'll put a menu selection under references, which is where the original link still exists although it doesn't work any longer.  I'll also announce it in one of the upcoming newsletters as soon as that first page looks decent.

But back to this month.  We have a couple Birthday's to acknowledge, an order of battle, a note from Bill Vickrey about the origin of the BOM RoundTable, and a slight correction to an article that appeared in 2018.

So sit back and enjoy the newsletter and Happy Holidays to all.

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Origin of the BOM RoundTable

4 November 2022
From Bill Vickrey
North Carolina

Just for the record---The Battle of Midway Round Table did originate with Bill Price but – for the first year or so (maybe more???) – it did not fly very big and was composed of just five men and I am honored to be one of the “privileged five”— who founded the “Midway Round Table”-led by Bill Price. I “got in” by an interview – and dinner – with Captain Howard Ady…my very first interview with a Battle of Midway veteran..we became close friends and I met his son through him.

(The five were)

Bill Price

I first visited Bill Price - (his basement was in worse shape than mine!!) - when visiting our daughters in Baltimore (earlier – I lived in the Baltimore area for twenty five plus years - when Nancy Pelosi’s father was the long time mayor of Baltimore).

Captain Frank DeLorenzo

My first interview with a Battle of Midway was not a veteran of the Battle – but rather was Captain Frank DeLorenzo- who led me to many others.  He was stationed at Pearl on 4 June 1942 but was away – somewhere – on 4 June 1942.  Through DeLo I met a plethora of Naval Aviators..too many to think abut listing.

Captain Howard Ady Jr., USN (Ret)
(Who) was the first Battle of Midway veteran I interviewed. He was a good friend until his demise. He did not do a lot of emailing and depended on Howard, III. as his email voice.

Howard Ady, III

Me.

Through Captain Ady and Captain DeLorenzo I met a plethora of Battle of Midway naval aviators.

The two Howard Ady’s visited us – here in North Carolina - one Christmas season – and my wife fed them some true Southern Christmas “goodies”. (In addition to more than two college degrees she never forgot how to be a great Southern cook and hostess!!!).

Rose Marie – my wife - and I met in the registration line - on our first day of college- a short time after I was discharged from the World War II Navy. We had a walking date that night and were never separated until her demise two years ago.

Captain Frank DeLorenzo, USN (Ret) – as an aside - was one of the pilots in the crew which flew Admiral Nimitz to Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve of 1941 – to take command of the Pacific Fleet…and Delo had some vivid memories of that trip.

DeLo was one of the closest friends I have had in my 96 years!!!

Among other things he introduced me to hundreds of WW II Naval Aviators—and he picked my pockets - many times - on the golf course!!

There was a plethora of retired Naval Aviators living in Pensacola – and Delo knew them all.

Delo was stationed at Pearl Harbor on 4 June 1942 but was away from Pearl on that day.

I made some lifetime friends amongst the Battle of Midway veterans. Amongst the closest were Howard Ady, Sr. and Dick Best…two of the best known “B of Midway veterans.

I often stayed with Dick when I was in the L.A. area of California. My wife – a professional teacher – now deceased – traveled with me on some of my summer travels – and we stayed with Dick when we were in that area. Dick wanted to serve Rose Marie breakfast in bed – but- she always beat him to the draw!

One time we were in Pensacola – for a Midway event where Dick was the principal speaker. When the program was over Dick left the platform – and passed by a plethora of disgruntled reporters – to hug my Rose Marie.

I had the distinct privilege of knowing Mr. Lord. I met him in NYC – quite by accident - at a business conference – not to do with Midway. He offered me the chance to come to his apartment and to review and copy as much of his research as I wanted.

Sadly I was very busy building a career – in the insurance industry… I was the new President of a small – growing – insurance company – and did not take advantage of Mr. Lloyd’s offer.

I was privileged to make friends of many Battle of Midway veterans and – sadly – my time on earth is rapidly ending and I will not put “my pen to paper to record most of their stories.

I am sending Howard Ady, Jr. a copy of this for his confirmation.

Keep up the great work!!!

Smooth Sailing

Bill

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5 November 2022
From Howard Ady III
Nevada

Bill

Aloha & Mahalo! For your outstanding recap!

Have a super Holiday Season.

Thanks so much for your contributions to the October Newsletter Edition celebrating the 25th year since the founding of this great outfit!

Long Live Midway42.Org!

Peace Through Strength!

h

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TBD 6-T-8 June 1941 Emergency Landing

2 November 2022
From Mickeen Hogan

I am Mickeen Hogan and I really enjoy all you put up about the Battle Of Midway.

However, in the May 2018 issues of Backissues, I noticed an error in a post written by John Bond (link here: http://www.midway42.org/Backissues/2018/20180501.aspx#Link3 ). He said the TBD "6-T-8" that made an emergency landing at Camp Malakole in June 1941 was TBD-1 BuNo 0329 which was lost with VT-8 on the Hornet at Midway.

I have evidence that contradicts 0329 being 6-T-8 in June 1941. The history card said it was transferred to VT-3 in October 1939 then to VT-2, before being put into Pearl Harbor Battle Force on Jan 26 1942, then was assigned to VT-8 in late May 1942, meaning it wasn't aboard for the Doolittle Raid either.

I also got the accident card for 6-T-8 in June 1941, the BuNo is 0345. The crew was William Creamer (a future VT-8 pilot) Earl Clark, and John Farnham. 0345 was later repaired and reassigned to VT-2 on Lexington. James Brett D.M Mannion and Albert Hensley flew 0345 on March 10 1942, and in the May 1942 Coral Sea Battle by Brett, Duncan Hallock, and Hensley. The aircraft sank with Lexington on May 8 1942. RV Petrel discovered 0345 was T1 in VT-2.

I included the history cards for 0329 and 0345, 0345 says crash 6/14/41.

Mickeen

















If you enlarge the image you can see the number 345 on the frame in the picture above.

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No Right to Win

8 November 2022
From Tom Matlosz
Jupiter, FL

After procrastinating for several years, I finally got around to reading No Right To Win, while travelling to and returning from my grandson’s Marine Corp boot camp graduation, this past weekend in San Diego. A job well done on this brilliant work! Having been at arm’s length from the Roundtable over the last decade or so, it was nice to read the interwoven compendium of dialogue from the Midway veterans who were members back in the early days of the Roundtable. I particularly enjoyed Chapters 8 and 10 and will now need to seek out a copy of Bowen Weisheit’s book. With renewed interest, I have a hankering to accurately chart out the ship and squadron movements during the BOM, unless someone on the Roundtable has already performed that analysis.

As an aside, I took several photos of the dive brakes on the SBD aboard the USS Midway. The operating mechanism has always intrigued me. There is only one operating cylinder for the assembly, mounted centerline of the fuselage, linked to two drive rods for each wing. I assume that one rod operated the upper brake surface and the other the lower brake/flap surface, but it’s not intuitively obvious looking at the static assembly. Does anyone have the a good description or manual for the dive brake assembly?

Tom Matlosz

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Enterprise Order of Battle at Midway.

26 November 2022
From Artur Golebiewski

Hello. For a long time I have been a huge fan of the BOM dating back to first seeing the original 1976 Midway movie in a theater on the other side of the Iron Curtain in late 70's

I have always been a huge fan of the Enterprise and its stellar performance during the war and recently purchased a huge 1/200th scale model of the ship to make it my "retirement project".

I want to stage the start of the SBD's and know from various accounts that there was the 3 plane section of Wade McCluskey, the entire 18 plane VS6 and the 15 planes of VB6, but never did I come across any references that would give me the exact line up of all the planes and their markings. Does such a reference exist so I can recreate the lineup on my model? Thanks for any help in this matter.

Artur Golebiewski

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Editor’s note:  I don't recall having an exact lineup of the aircraft for the launch on the morning of the 4th but I'll look. However VS6 would have been lined up first and armed with 500lb bombs due to the shorter take off room. Then VB6 with 1000lb bombs. McCluskey's three plane section would be lined up first for takeoff as the leader of the strike. I may have some further info but I'll have to look.

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26 November 2022
From Artur Golebiewski

Thank you so much for your quick reply.

I have also a question about the markings of McCluskey’s two wingmen. I know Wade’s markings were „CG” for commander air group but I have no idea if his wingmen flew regular planes of VS6 or VB6 or had some special command markings. Thanks again for all your help

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Editor’s note:  Here are the pilots and aircraft numbers for the morning launch of Scouting Six and Bombing Six and more or less in the order they were lined up on the deck.  Torpedo Six and the Fighting Six escorts were spotted after both dive bombing squadrons launched.  At 1/200 scale you should be able to get all the markings on the aircraft visible.  This is the order they would have been spotted on deck with each section of three across the deck followed by the next section.

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Ed Fox celebrates his 100th Birthday January 7th

11 December 2022
From Ron Russell

A special salute to Ed Fox. He turns 100 on January 7th. A remarkable veteran and Marine by every measure, plus a 20-year stalwart on the Roundtable.

RR

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Bill Vickrey celebrates his 97th Birthday December 29th

I would also like to honor Mr. Bill Vickrey who will celebrate his birthday this month.  He always has great info on many of the men who fought in the battle.  He was also one of the first members of the BOM RoundTable.  I spoke with him today and we had quite a long conversation about the RoundTable and the many vets he interviewed on his many business trips.  He said most vets insisted he stay with them when he was in their town.

All in all it was very nice to talk to him and we'll do it again.

Happy Birthday Mr. Vickrey

TW

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Announcements and Questions

1 November 2022
From Bonnie Jordan
South Carolina

Thom, It is with great sadness that I let you know that Larry P. Jordan, my husband, passed away on Oct.2, 2022. He was one of the originals of this group. His father went down on the Wasp in WW2 when he was 14 months old. He loved this group and looked forward to reading anything on WW2. Thanks for all you do for this group Thom.

Bonnie R. Jordan

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