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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 24, 2010
Public Affairs Office
Naval District Washington
Washington Navy Yard
1411 Parsons Ave. SE Suite 212
Washington, DC 20374-5007
POC: Mr. Ed Zeigler
(202)433-2678/FAX: 433-2158
MEDIA ADVISORY
NAVY PARTICIPATES IN WORLD-WIDE 68TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY COMMEMORATION
WASHINGTON - Naval District Washington will host the commemoration of the 68th anniversary of the historic Battle of Midway June 4 at 9 a.m. at the United States Navy Memorial in downtown Washington, D.C. (701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, across the street from the National Archives). The featured speaker will be Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead. The event will feature several veterans who survived the battle and more than a thousand sailors from the Washington, D.C. area.
Among the battle of Midway veterans attending will be:
Retired Navy Capt. Jack Crawford of Bethesda, Md. was serving as a newly-minted surface warfare officer aboard USS Yorktown when it was attacked during the Battle of Midway. He abandoned ship and was rescued by a nearby ship after spending a few hours in the ocean. After more than 20 years in the Navy, he retired and pursued a second career in nuclear engineering and is a pioneer in the field of nuclear propulsion. He is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.
Retired Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Bernard Cotton of Spring Hill, Fla. served as the chief fire control man aboard USS Hornet during Midway. His brother, a member of the gallant Torpedo Squadron 8, had been slated to fly during Midway, but was ultimately transferred to another day, avoiding the attack run which resulted in all fifteen of the squadron's aircraft being shot down. After serving twenty years in the Navy, Cotton ultimately settled in Spring Hill.
Retired Marine Corps Maj. Albert Grasselli, also a Pearl Harbor survivor, was a member of Marine Air Group 21 stationed at Ewa Marine Air approximately 15 miles west of Pearl Harbor. Grasselli participated in the Battle of Midway Island as one of the first designated aerial navigators in Marine aviation history. He navigated 24 planes safely into Midway where he witnessed the devastation. After completing flight school, he flew support missions in the South Pacific, including flights delivering Col. Charles Lindberg and other well known celebrities to various military facilities.
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Retired Navy Chief Warrant Officer 2 Edward P Anderson served onboard USS Hammann (DD-412) in controlled ordinance. During the Battle of Midway, Hammann pulled alongside USS Yorktown to evacuate the crew from the damaged ship. After the crew was evacuated, Hammann again pulled alongside Yorktown to assist in pumping and damage control when a torpedo from a Japanese sub hit it. Hammann sank within seven minutes. One of its depth charges armed itself and blew up, killing hundreds of men in the water. After retiring from the Navy, Anderson moved to Hawaii and has lived there for 32 years running his own company.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Verner Utke-Ramsing was aboard USS Drum leaving the Japanese coast after successful patrols. Late one night in May, Drum sank the Japanese seaplane carrier Mizuho off the island of Hushu with one torpedo hit. Mizuho went down with its brood of ten midget submarines. If Drum had not sunk Mizuho, there would have been 10 additional Japanese submarines at Midway instead of four. At Midway, Drum was also ordered to attack a Japanese battleship and a Japanese cruiser. After retiring from the Navy, Ramsing ran a successful travel agency for twenty years.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Bob Allen. In 1936 at the age of 18, Allen, an enlisted man in the Navy, served aboard USS Enterprise both at Pearl Harbor and at the Battle of Midway. On Enterprise, Allen was a first class petty officer who managed all the operating rooms on the ship. Enterprise lost all but three of her torpedo planes in the Pearl Harbor attack. When Yorktown was hit, its planes wound up landing on Enterprise. After his retirement from the Navy, Allen and his wife moved to Alexandria, Va. where he spent many years as the supply officer for the Smithsonian Institution.
In addition to Naval District Washington, Navy commands world wide will be commemorating the 68th anniversary of the Battle of Midway on June 4.
On June 4, 1942, a vastly outnumbered and outgunned U.S. fleet defeated the finest of the Imperial Japanese navy in the waters off a small Pacific atoll named Midway. Their daring combination of intelligence, tactics, courage and sacrifice forever changed the course of the war and world history. It is believed by many military scholars to be the most important of American naval victories.
This event is open to the public. For further information or to arrange interviews with veterans, please contact the Naval District Washington Public Affairs Officer, Ed Zeigler at (202) 433-2678 or send email to edward.zeigler@navy.mil.
The Defense Media Activity will broadcast the event to Navy units around the world. Media can access the satellite broadcast of the event with the satellite coordinates below.
DVIDS Downlink Information
DVIDS Sideband 1
DIGITAL
Galaxy 17-C21
D/L Frequency 4133
Horizontal
L-Band 1017
Symbol Rate 6.1113
FEC 5/6
Data Rate 9386637
DVIDS 1 Service or Channel 1
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