LOOKING FOR NAGUMO

It is the third of June, 1942. It's first light over Midway. The American Navy had been decoding the secret transmissions of the Japanese. The last message intercepted before the enemy changed its codes was what amounted to the full battle order and operations plans for the Japanese attack on Midway. The long and the short of it was that the U.S. knew roughly where they were going to be, at about which time but it was a pretty large area. "Roughly" is the key operating word. The Navy sent up planes in a fan operation from Midway where there was a detachment of bombers, torpedo bombers, scout airplanes and patrol airplanes. Of all the aircraft that went out for a couple of days in a row, only one finally stumbled across the Japanese fleet. This Consolidated PBY-5A had taken off from Midway at about three in the morning and Jack Reid, the commander, spotted the fleet at about 10 a.m. Reid's crew radioed ahead and this enabled the combined forces to engage the fleet and conduct the Battle of Midway in such a way that the Allies won. Countersigner: Jewell "Jack" H. Reid.