June 4th 1942 "Gibbon's Secrets" & Navy News Eye on the Fleet

 WASHINGTON (June 3, 2011) More than 200 Sailors and Marines attend a wreath laying ceremony at the Navy Memorial to commemorate the 69th anniversary of the Battle of Midway.

Highlights from my book "Gibbon's Secrets"

The war news hit a new low when the Japanese troops captured Corregidor.  It marked the end of the American armed resistance in the Philippines.  The young Gibbon Commandos finally got some good war news with the reports coming in about the “Battle of Midway”.  Bud said to his dad, “Could you find out some things about the Battle of Midway for my group of friends?”  “Bud, I think the publisher of the Gibbon Reporter could fill us in with more of what happened in that battle.  He receives reports for publication in his paper.  Let’s go pick up the boys and visit him at his paper.”

Reg picked up all four of Bud’s friends and they headed down to the Gibbon Reporter.  Reg took the boys into the newspaper office, and asked to see Moon, the publisher of the paper, to explain what he knew about the Battle of Midway.  Moon came out of his office and said, “Hi Reg, I see you brought the troops to visit me.”  Reg said, “I sure did, Moon.  These boys asked me to find out what I could about the ‘Battle of Midway’, and I thought you might be able to help us out.”  Moon said, “I just received a communiqué about that battle yesterday and I’ll do my best to explain it to you boys.”  Bud said, “That would be great, sir.”

Moon made sure he had their attention before he started then he said, “It is my understanding that the Japanese had planned to capture Midway to use it as an advance base for the purpose of entrapping and destroying more of our U.S. Pacific Fleet.  Because of our communication intelligence successes, the U.S. Pacific Fleet surprised the Japanese forces.  This resulted in our fleet sinking four Japanese carriers, while only losing one of our carriers.  I know this may sound sketchy to you guys, but the importance of the battle was that it turned the earlier defeats in the Pacific into a victory.  Hopefully this will turn the tide in our direction.”  Reg said, “Thank you so much for explaining this Moon.  I know that these boys appreciated it very much.”  Wally spoke up, “We sure did sir, thanks for telling us about it.”  The rest of the boys chimed in with their thanks and Reg took them back to their individual homes.

June 4^th, 1942 - The Battle of Midway started on June 4^th and lasted through June 8^th.  This battle of ships and planes resulted in the loss of the Japanese carriers: “Akagi”, “Kaga”, “Soryu” and “Hiryo”, and the heavy cruiser “Mikuma”, with damage done to 1 cruiser, 3 destroyers, 1 tanker and 1 battleship.  American forces lost the carrier “Yorktown” and the destroyer “Hammond”.  The Japanese lost a total of 332 planes, while the Americans lost 147.

More than 200 Sailors and Marines attend a wreath laying ceremony at the Navy Memorial to commemorate the 69th anniversary of the Battle of Midway.