Hundreds of sailors and Marines at Pensacola Naval Air Station joined veterans of the Battle of Midway on Monday to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the major Navy battle considered a turning point in World War II.
"It was the first decisive victory of the Pacific Theater," Hill Goodspeed, historian for the National Naval Aviation Museum told the group of more than 500 gathered in the museum's Blue Angels atrium.
Goodspeed said 90 pilots who participated in the Battle of Midway earned their flight wings at Pensacola Naval Air Station.
Gordon Pierce, 93, served on the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, which was torpedoed and sank during the battle. Pierce, of Fairhope, Ala., sat in his wheelchair after Monday's ceremony and shook hands with a long line of sailors and Marines. He wore a USS Yorktown baseball cap.
Pierce said he never would have thought back in 1942 that the battle would become such a significant part of American military history.
"I have so many stories about it. I could write a book," he said as he shook hands.
James Stofer, 94, served on the cruiser USS Portland during the battle. He was at a fire control station during the battle and witnessed much of the surrounding action.
"I didn't know what would happen, I just hoped that we would prevail," he said.
Monday's formal ceremony included a 21-gun volley by a Marine Corps rifle detail and the playing of Taps.
Rear Adm. Michael White, commander of the Naval Education and Training Command at Pensacola Naval Air Station said the victory at Midway was a testament "to the tenacity, resourcefulness and courage of the American military."
If the American forces had not prevailed at Midway, Japanese forces could have moved on to Hawaii and even the west coast of the United States, he said.
White also credited military cryptologists for their work breaking the Japanese codes. Because of their work, the American forces knew when the Japanese would attack Midway and the size of the attack force, he said.
The World War II code breakers were the forerunners of today's Navy cryptologists who study nearby at Corry Station, he said.
Ensign Mary Brass escorted the World War II veterans during Monday's ceremony.
"It was amazing to hear their stories," she said. "Midway was a huge part of our Naval heritage and history."
