Battle of Midway

Bob Batterson, a survivor of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor (left) and Ed Holt, who served in the Pacific Theater during World War II, look on as AC1 Joshua Mitchell cuts a cake at the June 4 commemoration of the 77th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway and the 75th Anniversary of D-Day.

Mitchell was the guest speaker at the June 4 ceremony held aboard USS Lexington Museum on the Bay. Mitchell talked about the luck and the initiative of the Americans who defeated the Japanese at Midway in 1942 and how those lessons and values remain applicable today.

The Battle of Midway, June 4-7, 1942, effectively ended Japan’s strategic offensive operation in the Pacific and gave it to the United States and its allies, just six months after Pearl Harbor.

D-Day, June 6, 1944, was the largest amphibious operation in history and began the Allied push to retake the European continent from the German military. (U.S. Navy photo by Rod Hafemeister)