Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Navy commemorates
Battle of Midway

A ceremony at Pacific Fleet
marks the battle's anniversary

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Kahala resident Kenneth West will celebrate his 88th birthday tomorrow.

On the eve of his 30th birthday, West was aboard the USS Portland 1,250 miles northwest of Oahu near Midway Atoll and wasn't thinking about birthdays.

Instead, he was concerned about the pending battle with the Japanese fleet and what was to become the most decisive engagement in World War II.

West, a retired Navy captain, is one of four survivors of the Battle of Midway who live on Oahu. Today he joined Adm. Thomas Fargo, Pacific Fleet commander in chief, and his staff at morning colors in commemorating the 58th anniversary of the Battle of Midway.

A special 5-by-8-foot American flag, dubbed "Old Glory," was raised this morning as the Pacific Fleet commemorated the battle that began June 4, 1942.

"The battle of Midway was an important turning point in the war for our Pacific fleet forces," Fargo said.

"It changed the very course of the war in our favor. Before this epic battle, Japan had possessed overall naval superiority over the U.S. and could choose when and where to attack. After Midway, our two opposing fleets were essentially equals and we were able to seize the offensive.

"The victory at Midway was the first ray of brightness in what had been a discouraging and chaotic time for our Pacific fleet. Coming off the attack at Pearl Harbor, the Pacific fleet was barely holding its own."

The USS Portland was part of the Yorktown carrier group and was dispatched from Pearl Harbor after the Pacific Fleet broke the Japanese navy's code and discovered a plan to attack Midway.

The Japanese had hoped to use Midway as a stepping stone to an invasion of the Hawaiian Islands. Its plan was to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Midway.

Four Japanese carriers -- part of the world's largest task force to that time -- and the Yorktown were sunk during that decisive two-day naval engagement. The Navy also lost one destroyer, the USS Hammond.

Japan lost 3,500 sailors and pilots at the Pacific atoll, while 307 Americans were killed.

Midway is now under control of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Following the sinking of the Yorktown, West said the Portland was put in charge of taking more than 1,500 of its survivors.

Later in the Philippines, in 1945, West was awarded the Silver Star for developing a searchlight defensive pattern that was used to blind and throw off Japanese kamikaze pilots. "We were trying to find ways to confuse them," said West, who by then had been promoted to commander. "By shining a bright light into their eyes we hoped to confuse them so they couldn't see where they were going."