(The SITREP 03 June 1942. Imperial Japan advances. Map courtesy of Britannica)

As you know, this is a year framed in recollection. Ten years ago Admiral Mac Showers was one of the last survivors of Joe Rochefort’s HYPO codebreakers at Pearl Harbor. He traveled out to Pearl for the 70th anniversary before departing this life ten years ago. His presence helped illuminate the memory of one of history’s great naval battles: 4 IJN heavy Carriers versus 3 from the USN with embattled Marines and Navy fighting from the atoll.

(Mac Showers (r) at the 70th Midway Anniversary, 2012)

Those of us in the Intelligence end of things remember the key factors that led Admiral Chester Nimitz to make the decisions he did. That was the start of a controversy in which Mac was involved for the remainder of his life, an internal war in the Naval community that reverberated until all those who participated left this earthly realm of conflict.

And of course there was much more, better expressed in the raw courage of those who fought. The decisions and crucial miscalculations are part of the amazing story, including the actions of Richard Halsey “Dick” Best, a pilot whose SBD Dauntless dive-bomber dropped a weapon that penetrated the flight deck of the IJN carrier Akagi and exploded in the upper hangar bay in the midst of 18 fueled-and-armed Nakajima B5N2 aircraft. The subsequent explosions put her below the waves. But the events before and after that moment, and the warriors who accomplished them are what made the history.

(Doomed IJN Akagi)

There are two sets of days for the historic encounter if you look them up: one version starts today, 03 June, and wraps up on the 7th. The other official account starts with action on the 4th. It was a wild and expansive engagement that included Japanese feints at Dutch Harbor, and which started another war inside the US Navy about who had the story correctly analyzed and who should have the credit for setting the stage. That matter continued, in some regard, to this very day. For us, knowing Mac and the inside workings of the organization that gave an accurate assessment of the intentions of Admiral Yamamoto, it was a chance to hear how the history of the world can happen at the corner of your desk.

If, of course, it is the right desk.

There will be ceremonies and commemorations on this day, from the World War II Memorial all the way to the headlands of cemeteries in the Pacific that look across the same magnificent sweep of blue they always have. It is a day to remember courage and sacrifice. For those who follow in the footsteps of those involved in those ays, it contains a message about the criticality of competent analysis and a certain flair for deception in the electromagnetic spectrum. It also contains accounts of raw courage, determination and pure damn luck, the like of which rivals any in history.

If you have a moment today and through the weekend, think back to the events of these few days eighty years ago. They changed the course of a war, and altered the direction of History. The honor is theirs. The challenge for us is to follow in their wake. And keep the course true.

Copyright 2022 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com