It was a night for the ages at Willow, following a day of drama and emotion.

I don’t know if the battle at the Coral Sea was more significant than we commonly remember here. It was that tactical draw between the US Navy and the rampaging and unchecked Navy of the Empire of the Sun. The sacrifice and determination of the Americans deterred the next step for the Japanese: an attack on Port Moresby and the advance on Australia. As the featured speaker observed at the Office of Naval Intelligence observed, it set the stage for the most dramatic victory in the long annals of naval warfare.

The Battle at Midway may have changed the center of gravity of post-war history as well, as the victory permitted FDR to throw the main effort of the war against Germany, and prevented the Nazis from having the time to develop The Bomb.

But as usual, I am getting ahead of myself. The anniversary of the Midway fight was being commemorated at the Office of Naval Intelligence. It is important to remember our history, and the Command is also taking the opportunity to honor our pal Mac Showers by naming the OPINTEL watch floor in his honor.

It is only appropriate: Mac and the team of which he was part invented the whole idea of all-source intelligence fusion, after all, which is still our bread and butter. Mac was the last surviving officer of the team that unlocked the secrets of the Japanese, and permitted the bold Chester Nimitz to concentrate his total force on the place where it counted.

It is an honor beyond price to have been Mac’s friend.

But of course it was a frantic morning to get across the Potomac and the Anacostia rivers, and disconcerting- Pennsylvania Ave is closed from the freeway construction, my old route, and I wound up on the Suitland Parkway to enter the complex over my the Census Department side of the Federal Complex.

New security rules, my IC badge and retired ID didn’t work to gain access. I was minutes away from being late, and I realized that I had two objects in the car- one in my briefcase I have to keep with me with the Bulgarian workmen in the house, and the other in my go-bag in the trunk with a couple MREs, two bottles of water and a dozen real silver dollars that I really did not want to share with either the Maryland Patrol, the Federal Protective Service or the ONI Police. But it was fine.

Thankfully the gate security staff was as incompetent as you would expect, the ONI ones at the inner gate to the Sanctum were most professional.

I made it with minutes to spare. But great ceremony- including the somewhat offhand comment on the current budget environment from Admiral Sam, which was that this is all cyclical, and it changes only when people die.

But it was appropriate in the context of the Midway observation coupled with the tribute and dedication to Mac.

I probably would have been at Willow anyway, after putting out a few fires at the office. It was great- the Showers Clan was there along with the usual suspects at the bar, and there was a moment of high personal drama that opens up all sorts of opportunities. I will share that with you when I can, but will leave that moment alone for now.

So, this morning we move on to the actual day of the battle long ago. The ceremony was exceptional, and the tokens erected at ONI in memory of Mac are truly moving, as were the words of Admiral Sam Cox.

A day to remember, all around, with the actual moment of the of decisive action in the Mid-Pacific 71 years ago coming up later this morning, Pacific Time. Remember, if you would, when the fate of a world rested on the racing propellers of bold and courageous men, and the secrets they knew.

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com