tbd1devastator

John Charles Waldron, Commanded Torpedo Squadron 8, where all 15 US Navy Torpedo bombers were shot down, with complete loss of crews, save one air crew member, who parachuted into the water and watched the catastrophe. ...From my Tribute..."The Price of Freedom, LaBelle Florida", authored by "Holistic Spot (deleted)"... "I still remember the Waldron Bros. and their Father who received the Black bordered letter from the US State Dept. nine months after their eldest was reported missing in action and believed deceased when John Charles Waldron their eldest had found Nagumo's fleet to begin the battle of Midway!!! He rode his Torpedo 8 down with canopy back, and standing up like he was on horseback according to the only survivor of that squadron he led!!! War is hell!!! [ I was only 2 3/4 years old!]" There are 10 million stories like this! My Uncle Joe Ziomek, Chicago, Illinois, was a Naval CB heavy equipment operator on Midway, clearing up the damage, repairing the runway, searching and saving lives under the devastating attack. My father, ironically, was a 1-striper Army enlisted on a hillside in Dutch Harbor, in the diversionary attack 1850 miles to the NorthEast which a few days later, commenced the main attack on Midway!

October 7 update: Devastating, Crushing patriotic advertising promo on new Midway documentary, almost gave me an emotional heart attack, showing actual veterans, ordinary military accomplishing super human patriotic sacrifices, ACADEMY AWARD LIFETHREATENING MOMENTS of their young lives...MIDWAY, it cant get any better than this simple promo! DEVASTATING wonderful! Duplicate commendation, most wonderful promo, so gut wrenching true!

The aircraft in the left foreground, US Navy Douglas TBD-1 Devastator, BuNo 0300 (c/n 1782), VT-2 (Torpedo Squadron 2), was lost on May 8, 1942, with the sinking of USS Lexington (CV-2) during the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Douglas TBD-1 Devastators of the USN's VT-5 from the USS Yorktown (CV-5) in 3-ship formation in the late '30's. The carrier crossed into the Pacific w/ these a/c in April 1939 and later participated in the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway in '42.