Aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) held a wreath-laying ceremony June 4 to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the Battle of Midway.

"The sacrifices incurred during the spring of 1942 were tremendous," said Capt. Daniel Grieco, TR's commanding officer. "But the willingness of our military personnel to take on those sacrifices never wavered all the way through the end of the war. Our Navy continues in the tradition of those that have come before us. We owe a debt of gratitude to those brave Sailors, Marines and Airmen."

A flag detail paraded the colors as the bugler played "Taps," to honor the sacrifice made by those who fought that day.

"Grit, blood, guts, the sheer talent of naval leadership and the ability to gamble," said Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Gregory Fall, TR's Battle of Midway ceremony coordinator. "It's one of the luckiest strategic battles of naval history."

The battle is considered the turning point of the war in the Pacific. The battle began June 4, 1942, with the Imperial Japanese Navy's foiled attempt to ambush the U.S. Navy just off the coast of Midway. Adm. Chester Nimitz led the U.S. fleet to victory six months after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, inflicting overwhelming damage to the Japanese fleet.

According to Fall, cryptology played a key role in the victory in the Pacific. Code breakers gave Nimitz an incredible advantage by providing him an information edge over the Japanese.

"[The cryptologists] broke the Japanese code," Fall said. "But just because you have the ability to decode the message doesn't mean the work is done. Keeping the intelligence under wraps was a task within itself. We then had to be able to keep the fact that we knew how to break their code secret enough so that they didn't try to change it."

Having successfully broken the Japanese JN-25 naval code, Nimitz entered the battle with a picture of the Japanese plan, able to pinpoint when and where the fleet would try to attack. Nimitz dispatched Rear Adm. Raymond Spruance with the carriers USS Enterprise (CV 6) and USS Hornet (CV 12) to Midway to surprise the Japanese. The carrier USS Yorktown (CV 10), led by Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher, arrived two days later.

On June 4, Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto sent Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo to command Japan's four carriers: Hiryu, Soryu, Akagi and Kaga, launching the attack on Midway with 108 offensive aircraft. The Japanese planes pounded Midway's installation but failed to neutralize the island's defenses or runway, forcing Japanese strike leaders to recommend a second attack. After this process began, a Japanese scout plane found the American fleet.

Two squadrons from Enterprise attacked Kaga and Akagi; their flight decks and hangar bays full of personnel, fuel and ammunition. American aircraft scored direct hits on the Japanese carriers, which caused heavy damage and started several fires. One of the bombs landed near the bridge, killing Capt. Jisaku Okada and most of the ship's senior officers. Akagi sustained one direct hit that proved to be fatal. The bomb penetrated to the upper hangar deck, where it exploded among armed and fueled aircraft. Simultaneously, Yorktown's aircraft attacked Sry, scoring at least three hits and causing extensive damage. Within six minutes, Sry and Kaga were in flames. Akagi, was struck by only one bomb and took longer to burn, but the resulting fires quickly expanded and soon proved impossible to fight. Japanese sailors abandoned all three carriers.

Hiry, the only Japanese aircraft carrier left, counterattacked with a wave of 24 aircraft, hitting the Yorktown with three bombs, blowing a hole in the deck and causing immense damage. Despite the destruction, damage control teams were able to plank over the flight deck and restore power within an hour, enabling the Yorktown to resume air operations.

"It was the determination that people would not give up the ship," said Fall. "The crew was not going to allow the enemy to have the upper hand, this was the line, this was the straw, this is what we're going to defend."

Hiry sent a second wave, but the repair efforts were so effective aboard Yorktown that Japanese pilots thought the ship was an additional undamaged carrier. In the subsequent attack, Yorktown was struck by two torpedoes that put her out of action. A scout plane spotted Hiry, which prompted the Enterprise to launch a dive-bombing attack on the carrier. Four bombs hit Hiry, leaving her in flames and unable to operate aircraft.

By the end of the Battle of Midway, 307 Sailors and Marines had fallen, the Yorktown and USS Hammann (DD 412) were sunk and 145 aircraft were destroyed.

The Japanese lost 3,057 sailors, 4 aircraft carriers, the heavy cruiser Mikuma and 228 aircraft. The Imperial Japanese Navy was able to replace their ships, but could never replace the highly skilled pilots and aircrews lost during the battle. The four Japanese carriers were four of the six used to attack Pearl Harbor.

"We are so interconnected, from the brand new Sailor that checks on board all the way to the Captain," Fall said. "We are all part of an extremely complex system. Being an effective member of the team, being vigilant and knowing what it means to be in your rate is what everyone is relying on you for. To say that someone else's job is more important than another is false. Everyone has a role. Everybody makes a difference and if you don't understand how important you are as to this team, then you need to look around and understand that everything you do makes us an effective."

The Battle of Midway crippled Japan's ability to launch further large-scale attacks against Allied forces. That August, Marines used the new-found momentum and landed on Guadalcanal and began a vast island hopping campaign toward Tokyo.

"It's just inspiring to think about what all those brave men went through during the battle -- the many that lost their lives," said Boatswain's Mate 3rd Class Patrick Frazier after the ceremony. "As the ship was sinking and they were entombed, it must have been frightening to know that they were going to die there, and, even knowing that, they went ahead and made the sacrifice. It's a privilege to be in the shoes that they stood in."

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