Survivors remember battle that turned tide of Pacific war

The Battle of Midway was captured on film from the cockpits of planes and the decks of aircraft carriers and destroyers

June 3, 2000
Web posted at: 9:23 p.m. EDT (0123 GMT)

In this story: 'We're cutting the lines' 'Pretty soon they caught us' RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Correspondent Rusty Dornin

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- On June 3, 1942, a U.S. PBY Catalina flying boat left the U.S. Navy base on a tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to search for a Japanese invasion fleet. What the crew spotted 700 miles away started the greatest naval battle of modern times and marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

The Battle of Midway took place 58 years ago on Sunday.

Art Lewis was there, serving on the USS Balch. And so was Lee McClearly, an airman. Both survived to tell about their part in an action when heroics by U.S. airmen, timing, the breaking of the Japanese code and some slices of luck saw four Japanese aircraft carriers and a cruiser sent to the bottom of the ocean.

American losses were one aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown, and a destroyer, the Hammann.

Admiral Nimitz, forewarned by American cryptanalysts who had broken Japan's code, knew the attack plans of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, who had masterminded the Pearl Harbor attack.

American carrier aircraft were launched and several torpedo-carrying planes attacked the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga and Soryu, all of which had taken part in the Pearl Harbour attack.

"Several of the Japanese carriers were caught with their planes either refueling or in the air," said Richard M. Abrams, of the University of California-Berkeley. "So when the carriers themselves were sunk or badly damaged the planes had nowhere to go."

Later the Japanese carrier Hiryu was sunk, but her aircraft followed U.S. planes back to the Yorktown, attacked and crippled her.

U.S. servicemen who gave their lives in the Battle of Midway are honored by their comrades

Art Lewis was on the USS Balch when the Yorktown got hit and thousands of sailors were thrown or jumped into the sea. Lewis and one other man volunteered to jump in the sea and throw lifelines to the Yorktown's survivors.

He said his captain told them that if the Japanese were to return, "we're cutting the lines and gonna leave you.'"

The Yorktown staggered on, listing heavily. On the morning of June 7, she was hit by torpedoes from a Japanese submarine and sank, but more than 2,200 of her crew were rescued by other U.S. ships.

It took 54 years for Lewis to receive a medal for his heroic efforts. He now lives in a veterans' home in California and finally was awarded the bronze star for his valor.

But he never told his family of the day he risked his life for others.

Part of the American attack on the Japanese fleet was launched from Midway itself. Even patrol planes such as the Catalinas carried torpedoes to drop on the Japanese task force.

Lee McCleary said his aircraft was no match for the Zeros.

"Pretty soon they caught us. Three enemy planes ... we fought them for, I guess, less than 20 minutes. We had got one of them, maybe two, but the other kept pouring lead into our plane."

McCleary's plane crashed. Six of the crew died but McCleary and three others survived after spending three days in shark- infested waters.

He still has the small mirror with which he signaled a plane overhead.

On June 6, 1942, U.S. dive bombers sent the Japanese cruiser Mikuma to the bottom, effectively ending the Battle of Midway. Killed in the encounter were 362 Americans and an estimated 3,057 Japanese.

For Midway survivors like McCleary, glory was not on their minds. "I'm not a hero. The heroes are the guys who didn't come back.

"As far as I am concerned, they are the men who gave up their lives in the battle."

Two years ago the Yorktown was found, 16,650 feet down, by Bob Ballard, the man who found the Titanic. The carrier is said to look good, despite being on the ocean floor for 58 years.

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