Battle of Midway, June 4-7, 1942 World War II turning point, six months after Pearl Harbor. 307 Americans killed in action, including three prisoners, Ensign Wesley Osmus, Yorktown pilot, Ensign Frank O’Flaherty, flying off the Enterprise and Aviation Machinist’s Mate Bruno Peter Gaido, who were captured and then murdered by the Japanese. 

O’Flaherty and Gaido, who was O’Flaherty’s radio-gunner, attacked the Japanese aircaft carrier “Naga” at about 10 AM on June 4. They ran out of fuel and crashed landed, only to be captured and tortured by the Japanese. were interrogated. Several days later, they were tied to water-filled kerosene cans and thrown over the side of the cruiser Nagara, to drown. 

Osmus’ Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bomber was shot down and he was picked up by the Arashi. The ship’s captain, Watanabe Yasumasa, ordered Osumus killed with a fire ax after Osumus resisted the Japanese. Yasumasa died when his destroyer, the Numakaze, was sunk by an American torpedo on December 18, 1943.

Gaido, who had been promoted by Bull Halsey for bravery after Halsey saw Gaido shoot down a Japanese plane threatening his ship in February, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously, and Osumus and O’Flaherty both received the Navy Cross posthumously. Honor and remember these great Americans