Muscatine

Seventy three years ago today the battle that changed the course of the war in the Pacific during WWII began. A tiny Atoll located East of Hawaii became the focal point of the war between The United States and Japan, the Atoll was known as Midway.  An overwhelming armada of Japanese ships made their way across the Pacific to attack this tiny Atoll with the purpose of using the small island as a base for a possible invasion of The United States mainland only a few months after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor which took place in December just seven months earlier.

The United States Pacific fleet was still badly crippled as a result of Pearl Harbor and with only three carriers standing between the Japanese fleet boasting six carriers and hundreds of support ships, facing seemingly insurmountable odds, America forces soundly defeated the Japanese armada sending all six enemy carriers to the bottom of the Pacific and changing the course of the Pacific war from one of loss to continuous victory which would lead to the eventual surrender of Japanese forces on board the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.

Winston Churchill said of the Battle of Midway, "The annals of war at sea present no more intense, heart-shaking shock than this battle, in which the qualities of the United States Navy and Air Force and the American race shone forth in splendour. The bravery and self-devotion of the American airmen and sailors and the nerve and skill of their leaders was the foundation of all."

The Battle of Midway, a battle that was won against odds that should have seen the defeat of the America Navy but because of the bravery of our forces, the savvy of Naval Intelligence that broke the secret code of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto and the ability of the Commanding Admirals of the America fleet to direct this amazing battle The United States reversed the direction of the Pacific war and began the march to ultimate victory.