Joint base celebrates Battle of Midway 73rd anniversary

Published June 11, 2015
By Pascual Flores
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Seventy-three years ago, the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Army Air Corps worked together during an historic battle, shifting the tide of World War II in the Pacific. Today, the units at the nation's only tri-service joint base, representing each of the services involved in that monumental battle honored their memory during a Battle of Midway victory anniversary ceremony held here.

More than 300 community members assembled aboard the flight deck in Hangar One here June 4, 2015 to commemorate the battle.

"Today, we commemorated the Battle of Midway fought June 4 through 7, 1942," said Navy Capt. Christopher Fletcher, Joint Base McGuire-dix-Lakehurst deputy commander and Naval Support Activity-Navy commander. "It occurred six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, two months after the Doolittle Raid and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. It is especially appropriate that we commemorate the ceremony on JB MDL, because it was not only Navy aviators who attacked the Japanese fleet, but also U.S. Marine Corps aviators and U.S. Army Air Corp, who attacked the Japanese fleet. So it is truly a joint operation."

The Battle of Midway shifted the balance of sea power to the United States, marking one of the U.S. Navy's finest hours. The battle pitted U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Army air power against a superior Japanese Naval force of four aircraft carriers and its escorts.

At the end of the four-day battle the Japanese lost more than 100 trained pilots and more than 700 trained aircraft mechanics. Four large carriers, all part of the six-carrier force that attacked Pearl Harbor, and 248 aircrafts were destroyed in the battle.

It certainly wasn't a one-sided battle, and the ceremony also honors losses suffered by the U.S. -numbering 307 casualties, the aircraft carrier Yorktown, one destroyer and 150 aircraft.

"It was on the carrier decks, in the hangars, the folks wearing jerseys yellow, green, blue, purple, red and white, who diligently worked to make it happen," said Fletcher, referring to jerseys worn by different Naval aviation career fields. "They effectively and efficiently choreographed launch, recovery, refueling and rearming operations safely on U.S. aircraft carriers. Today, we commemorate them all from that historic battle."

A wreath memorializing the Battle of Midway was presented by Navy Lt. Cmdr. Walt Sandell, Lakehurst air operations officer, and Aviation Boatswain's Mate Seaman Kayla Laorosa.