Nothing distinguished the dawn of June 2, 1942 from countless other dawns that fell on the small Midway Atoll in the North Pacific. Nothing, except the tension of the men waiting for the enemy to make his move. On Midway's two main islands, Sand and Eastern, 3,632 U.S. Navy and Marine Corps personnel, along with some Air Force crews, stood at battle stations in or near fighters, bombers, torpedo bombers and seaplanes, awaiting attack. They had been waiting for the Japanese attack for weeks. The Carrier Battle of Midway, one of history's decisive naval battles, is well documented, but the role played by the Midway garrison, which manned the naval air base on the atoll during the battle, is not as well known. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Midway is located 1,135 miles west northwest of Pearl Harbor, Oahu. The entire atoll is just six miles in diameter and consists of sandy, eastern islands surrounded by a coral reef enclosing a shallow lagoon. Midway was discovered in 1859 and annexed by the United States in August 1867. Between 1903 and 1940 it served both as a cable car station on the Honolulu-Guam-Manila submarine telegraph line and as an airport for the Pan American Airways China Clipper. In March 1940, after a report on U.S. Navy bases in the Pacific declared Midway second in importance only to Pearl Harbor, construction began on a formal naval air station. Midway Naval Air Station was commissioned in August 1941. At that time Midway's facilities included a large hangar and seaplane ramps, artificial harbor, fuel storage tanks, and several buildings. Hundreds of civilian construction workers and a Fleet Marine Force defense battalion populated Sand Island, while East Island boasted a 5,300-foot airstrip. Commander Cyril T. Simard, a veteran naval pilot who had served as an air officer on the aircraft carrier USS Langley and as an executive officer at Air Station San Diego, was designated commanding officer of the atoll. Along with the naval personnel manning the air station was a detachment of Marines. The first detachment was from the 3rd Marine Defense Battalion. He was relieved on 11 September 1941 by 34 officers and 755 men of the 6th Defense Battalion under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Harold D. Shannon, a veteran of World War I and service in Nicaragua, Panama and Hawaii. Shannon and Simarad quickly gelled into an effective team. Destroying the Pan American radio direction finder and destroying a Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat. The Japanese retreated at 10:00 pm, leaving four Midway defenders dead and 10 wounded. On December 23, 1941, Midway's air defenses were reinforced by 17 SB2U-3 Vought Vindicator dive bombers, 14 Brewsters F2A-3 Buffalo fighters, and pilots and crews originally intended for the Wake Island relief effort. The Buffaloes and Vindicators were dropped from the aircraft, having been replaced by Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless dive bombers and Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters on US aircraft carriers. The Buffaloes became part of Marine Fighter Squadron 221, while the Vindicators were placed in Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 241, both constituting Marine Air Group 22 under Lieutenant Colonel Ira B. Kimes. On May 20, Shannon and Simard received a letter from Admiral Nimitz, praising their good work and promoting them to full captain and colonel. Then Nimitz informed them that the Japanese were planning toattack Midway on May 28. He then outlined the Japanese strategy and promised all possible help. On May 25, as the work continued, Shannon and Simard received good news. The Japanese attack would occur between June 3 and 5, giving them another week to prepare. That same day the light cruiser St. Louis arrived to deliver a 37mm, eight-gun antiaircraft battery from the 3rd Marine Defense Battalion and two rifle companies from the 2nd Raider Battalion. Both Sand and Eastern Island were surrounded by defenses coastal. Six 5-inch guns, 22 3-inch guns, and four 7-inch guns of the Old Navy were positioned along both coasts of both islands for use as anti-aircraft and anti-boat guns. As many as 1,500 mines and booby traps were placed underwater and along beaches. Ammunition caches were placed throughout the islands, along with food caches for the resistance pockets and an emergency supply of 250 55-gallon drums of gasoline. Midway had just about everything it needed for its defense. Along with the 121 aircraft crowding the runways on the eastern islands, Midway had 11 PT boats in the lagoon to assist the ground forces with anti-aircraft fire. A yacht and four converted tuna boats were on standby for salvage operations, and 19 submarines guarded the approaches to Midway. By June 2, the Pacific Fleet's three aircraft carriers Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown were in position northeast of Midway, but only a few key officers were aware that Midways' defenders would be supported. Midways Navy pilots were told not to expect any help from the U.S. aircraft carriers that were defending Hawaii. The only halfway possibility was for the Nimitz carriers to be located. In the early morning of June 3, the PBYs of VP-44 and VP-23 took off on their 700-mile search missions, joined by a B-17 Flying Fortress. search and attack missions. The remaining planes at Midway were armed, fueled and waiting with the first contact report of an enemy ship from the battle. At 9:04 a.m. Ensign Charles R. Eaton, on patrol 470 miles from Midway, sighted three ships and obtained an antiaircraft blast. fire for his trouble. Eaton quickly radioed Midway the first enemy ship contact report of the battle. Seven hundred miles west of Midway, Ensign Jack Reid flew his PBY-5a across a largely empty ocean, nearing the end of the outward leg of his patrol. He found nothing interesting and went back. Reid saw some dots on the horizon 30 miles ahead. At first he thought it was dirt on the windshield. Then he looked again and shouted to his co-pilot "Ensign Gerald Hardeman: 'Do you see what I see?' 'You're right, dammit, I see it.' following the Japanese ships. Midway ordered Reid to amplify his report, and at 9:27 he radioed: “Orientation 262 degrees, distance 700.” At 10:40 he reported: “Six large ships in column at 11 o'clock ". "Eleven ships, course 090 degrees, speed 19." At 11:30, Reid was ordered to return to Midway. "Open fire when targets are in range," he advised all guns a minute later. One Kate caught fire and went straight down. The second Kate landed in the lagoon, missing the PT boats. The trenches, i Colonel Shannon's bunkers and revetments proved effective. Only 11 Midway ground defenders were killed and 18 wounded. None of Midway's aircraft were caught on the ground, except for one...