As the Japanese fleet withdrew following the 4 June carrier battle, PBYs from Midway began searching for the dozens of downed U.S. aviators. Ensign George Gay, a Torpedo Squadron Eight pilot from USS Hornet and the only man to survive his group's heroic attack on the Japanese carriers, was rescued on 5 June, after spending a day and night floating, and hiding, near burning Japanese ships. The enemy picked up another three American fliers, and killed them all after interrogation.
During the succeeding days, other pilots and aircrewmen were rescued by patrol planes and U.S. warships, as were the survivors of USS Yorktown, USS Hammann and of two sunken Japanese ships, the carrier Hiryu and cruiser Mikuma. On 21 June, seventeen days after ditching their plane, a TBD crew was recovered some 360 miles from Midway, the last of the battle's survivors to be rescued at sea.
Other aviators, perhaps not rescued at sea but survivors all the same, were evacuated to Hawaii. Among them were the remaining Marine Fighting Squadron 221 pilots who had so valiantly defended Midway against overwhelming odds and the Midway airmen who had attacked the Japanese fleet on 4 June. Some of the survivors were in good condition and quickly returned to duty. Others, injured in many of the ways offered by modern war, spent months and years in hospitals, personally enduring the tragic aspects of a great triumph.
This page presents photographs of Battle of Midway survivors at Pearl Harbor soon after rescue, and in other locations during the following months.
For further coverage on Battle of Midway survivors, see:
For links to additional coverage of later Battle of Midway
events, see:
For links to views of other aspects of the Battle of Midway,
see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: 80-G-17678 Battle of Midway, June 1942 Ensign George H. Gay at Pearl Harbor Naval Hospital, with a nurse and a copy of the "Honolulu Star-Bulletin" newspaper featuring accounts of the battle. He was the only survivor of the 4 June 1942 Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) TBD torpedo plane attack on the Japanese carrier force. Gay's book "Sole Survivor" indicates that the date of this photograph is probably 7 June 1942, following an operation to repair his injured left hand and a meeting with Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 86KB; 580 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-312064 Battle of Midway, June 1942 Survivors of USS Hammann (DD-412) are brought ashore at Pearl Harbor from USS Benham (DD-397), a few days after their ship was sunk on 6 June 1942. Note Navy ambulance in left foreground, many onlookers, depth charge racks on Benham's stern and open sights on her after 5"/38 gun mount. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 131KB; 740 x 545 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-357083 Marine Aviator Survivors of the Battle of Midway Standing in front of a VMJ-252 R4D-1 (Bureau # 3143) at Ewa Mooring Mast Field, Oahu, 22 June 1942. All but one are members of Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221). They are identified in Photo # 80-G-357083 (Complete caption). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 615 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-357094 Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221) Pilots Posed in front of a camouflaged building at Ewa Mooring Mast Field, Oahu, 14 July 1942. Most are survivors of Battle of Midway air action. They are identified in Photo # 80-G-357094 (Complete caption). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 92KB; 740 x 535 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-23357 Aviation Radioman 3rd Class Douglas M. Cossitt (right) and Aviation Radioman 1st Class W.A. Miller At Naval Air Station, Alameda, California, 4 September 1942. ARM3c Cossitt, then assigned to Torpedo Squadron Six from USS Enterprise (CV-6), spent seventeen days in a liferaft after his TBD-1 torpedo plane ditched on 4 June 1942. The plane's pilot was Machinist Albert W. Winchell. Recovered by a Patrol Squadron 24 PBY on 21 June, some 360 miles northward of Midway, they were the last of the downed Battle of Midway aviators to be rescued. ARM1c Miller was a survivor of the Battle of Coral Sea. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 565 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 46850 President Franklin D. Roosevelt Shakes hands with a Navy Chief Petty Officer, during a visit to the San Diego Naval Hospital in 1942. Men in wheelchairs (background) are recovering from injuries received during the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway, in May and June 1942. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 620 pixels |
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For further coverage on Battle of Midway survivors, see:
For links to additional coverage of later Battle of Midway
events, see:
For links to views of other aspects of the Battle of Midway,
see:
NOTES:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 17 April 1999
Coding updated 27 April 2009