re: World War 2 soldiers who went on to be famous

It was a travesty that those torpedo bomber pilots and crews were sent out on what amounted to a suicide mission. A defective main weapon, no fighter cover, no smoke screen to shield them, a flat and level approaches at 110 knots to launch a dud torpedo. What a waste of brave men.

I read ENS Gay's book many years ago. I recently read LTjg Dusty Kleiss's book "Never Call Me A Hero" that included his story of the Midway battle. As a member of Scouting Squadron 6, flying a SBD-3 Dauntless, he scored bomb hits on the carriers Kaga and Hiryu, both of which sank. Two days later, he hit the cruiser Mikuma, which also sank. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his action at Midway.

Kleiss goes into some detail about his best friend on Enterprise and member of Torpedo 6, who met the same fate as the members of Torpedo 8. Inspiring, yet a sad story.