WWII veterans commemorate fight at Midway
By Kapono Dowson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Eight veterans of the Battle of Midway — proudly carrying the burden of their years and memories — unfurled their flag yesterday on the battleship USS Missouri.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
The U.S. Navy and the International Midway Memorial Foundation were co-hosts to a ceremony at Pearl Harbor commemorating the first six months of World War II in the Pacific.
Pacific Fleet Band musician MU2 Weldon Rooney played "Taps" during a moment of silence that was part of yesterday's commemoration of World War II's Pacific theater.
In 1942, from June 4-7, the small Central Pacific atoll of Midway saw fighting that came to mark a turning point in the Pacific war.
According to Navy officials, the outcome of the battle and Japan's loss of four aircraft carriers made the United States and Japan equals. After Midway, the United States was able to take the offensive.
The veterans stood quietly on the Missouri's deck, watching their Midway Atoll Memorial Flag rise over the battleship's main mast. The flag fluttered over the three 16-inch gun turrets as the Midway veterans and their families honored their comrades. Now in their 80s, the sailors and Marines were in their early twenties or just teenagers back then, said Albert "Choppy" Powers who was only 21 and a boatswains mate 2nd class on the USS Balch at Midway.
"I was real proud," Powers said over the raising of their flag. "We're here to represent all the armed forces who fought in that battle."
Holding back tears, Rollin Schwirtz said he kept thinking about "the guys left out there" when the flag went up.
Nearly 80 now, Schwirtz was 18 at the time on the destroyer USS Hamman.
"I'd fight again if I had to," said Schwirtz. "The American flag is a precious thing."
Frank Tompkins remembered being a 22-year-old Marine on Midway. He said he remembered thinking, "We'd better get a good night sleep. It'll probably be our last."
Tompkins' wife Ruth and his youngest daughter Ellen Sanchez accompanied him to the ceremony. Sanchez, her husband Christopher and 3-year-old daughter planned to be at all the events honoring her father.
As she watched her aging dad, tears made it hard for her to speak.
"I don't want my dad to be forgotten," whispered Sanchez.
