Midway

[BSG 75]

I saw it on Saturday and I was impressed.

I have studied the Battle of Midway since I was in junior high school (a long time ago) after I read Incredible Victory by Walter Lord, first published in 1967. The movie covers the time from just before Pearl Harbor, through the Marshall Islands raids, the Doolittle Raid, the Battle of Coral Sea, and of course the Battle of Midway. I was impressed with how many little details they got right.

• Admiral Yamamoto's background attending Harvard and serving as naval attache in Washington, DC and therefore his familiarity with the United States and its industrial might, and his apprehension about getting into a prolonged war with the US.
• The psychological shock of the Doolittle Raid on the Japanese driving them to destroy the American aircraft carriers once and for all.
• The importance of the Navy's code breakers figuring out a big offensive was coming and the clever way they confirmed Midway was the objective.
• Aviation Machinist Mate Third Class (AMM3/C) Bruno Gaido jumping into the rear gunner's seat of a parked SBD Dauntless and shooting down a Japanese plane that was attacking the USS Enterprise Toughness: Aviation Machinist Mate First Class (AMM1/C) Bruno Peter Gaido | The Sextant
• Admiral William "Bull" Halsey missing the Battle of Midway because he had shingles
• The near-miraculous repair of the battle-damaged USS Yorktown after Coral Sea so it could participate in the Battle of Midway
• Famous Hollywood director John Ford being on Midway during the battle and filming color combat footage during the attack
• The Marines on Midway had M1917 helmets and M1903 rifles
• The fact that most American torpedoes were duds
• American planes following the Japanese destroyer Arashi to find the Japanese fleet as the Arashi raced to catch up with the fleet after it had depth charged the American submarine USS Nautilus
• The fact that the Japanese carriers were loaded with fueled planes and ordnance on the flight deck and hanger decks as they changed ordnance load outs from anti-ground to anti-ship when the Americans attacked, turning the ships into powder kegs

and on and on. With such a complex battle it would have been easy to get things wrong and I was amazed and pleased with how many things they got right. Recommended.