About the Battle of Midway Roundtable

 

(Updated 15 February 2013)

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

For a 15-year period from 1997 to the beginning of 2012, the Battle of Midway Roundtable was an interactive international association of those having a strong interest in the battle that changed the course of World War II in the Pacific as well as all world history that was to follow.   Our roster included military personnel, military veterans, family members of veterans, authors and historians, researchers, students, aviation enthusiasts, ship and aircraft hobbyists, and numerous others for whom the Battle of Midway has a special meaning.   Our membership extended to 20 countries around the world and included men and women of all ages and from a wide variety of backgrounds.

 

The BOMRT was unique among Internet history forums, for its active participants included many actual veterans of the Battle of Midway itself.  Among them were pilots and aircrewmen, sailors from the various ships, Marines who served on the atoll, and signal intelligence specialists who helped make the American victory possible.  For a complete list of our Midway veteran members, click the BOMRT Vets List link on our home page.

 

 

History

 

The BOMRT was started rather unintentionally.  In 1990 William H. Price, a State Department employee in Washington, made a chance acquaintance with retired Navy Captain Howard P. Ady, Jr., who had been the first to spot the enemy carriers as the Battle of Midway began on 4 June 1942.  Price then commenced an extended e-mail exchange with Ady, which soon attracted the interest of other Midway veterans.  The result was a sort of e-mail circular that continued among Price, Ady, and a few others for the next several years.  In 1997 the circular was mentioned on a comprehensive Battle of Midway web site, and soon visitors to the site started asking Price to include them in his distribution.  He began forwarding the veterans’ messages to everyone who wanted them, and the Battle of Midway Roundtable was born.

     

For its first six years the Roundtable continued to function via direct daily forwarding of e-mail.  A great many discussions on all aspects of the Battle of Midway and related topics were carried on by that method, usually with the participation of our Midway veterans.  By early 2004 over 8000 messages had been originated and forwarded to hundreds of recipients, but by then it was obvious that operating the Roundtable by forwarding individual e-mail messages could not continue with a constantly increasing membership.  Thus in 2004 the BOMRT transitioned to a periodic newsletter, “The Roundtable Forum,” which published 338 new issues over the next seven years, all of which can be found here.

 

Today, with far fewer surviving and participating Midway vets, the Roundtable is sustained primarily through its archives on this web site.  E-mail contact continues to be welcome, and all inquiries will be answered.

 

 

 

Contact Us

 

The Battle of Midway Roundtable
Thom Walla, Editor and Webmaster
e-mail:  midwayroundtable@gmail.com