SAN DIEGO — Seven veterans of the Battle of Midway on Monday joined about 1,000 people aboard a retired U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to mark the 75th anniversary of the turning point in World War II's Pacific Ocean theater.
Two F/A-18 Hornet fighter planes, blocked by clouds, thundered above the USS Midway, a Navy carrier that was commissioned in 1945 to commemorate the battle. The carrier was decommissioned in 1992 and has been in a military museum in downtown San Diego since 2004.
Well-wishers lined up to shake hands with 102-year-old Andy Mills and other wheelchair-bound Midway veterans after a 90-minute ceremony that recounted how the landmark battle unfolded. One Midway veteran came from hospice care.
The 1942 battle occurred six months after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor after Navy code breakers broke complex Japanese code to reveal a plan to ambush U.S. forces. The Japanese planned to occupy Midway, a strategic U.S.-held atoll 1,300 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor, and destroy what was left of the Pacific fleet.
When Japanese planes began bombing Midway, American torpedo planes and bombers counter-attacked in waves, bombing and sinking four Japanese carriers on June 4. The fighting continued for another three days before the United States proved to be victorious.
Hundreds of people attend ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, aboard a retired U.S. Navy aircraft carrier named for the epic World War II battle, in San Diego, Monday, June 5, 2017. A small group of survivors of the June, 1942 battle, all in wheelchairs, received a standing ovation Monday aboard the USS Midway, which is now a museum in San Diego Bay.
Photo Credit: Elliot Spagat/AP
Adm. John Richardson, chief of U.S. naval operations, told the audience that a string of "effective but decisive" actions led to a victory with razor-thin room for error.
"In hindsight, when you review the Battle of Midway, you can see like a series of strokes of amazing luck. And when you put those strokes together, it's like a miracle occurred at Midway. It trends towards the miraculous," he said.
Anthony J. Principi, who served as secretary of veterans affairs from 2001 to 2005, wrote in the Military Times that that Navy commanders made "coordinated, split-second, life-and-death decisions."
"We won because luck was on our side, because the Japanese made mistakes and because our officers and men acted with great courage amidst the chaos of battle," he wrote.
The Midway, which has more than 1 million visitors a year, has hosted college basketball games, parties during the Comic-Con pop culture extravaganza, and TV tapings for shows like ABC's "The Bachelor."
