Some years ago I discovered my father's
s 25th alumni yearbook published by the
Naval Academy to update classmates on what
had come to pass since graduation in 1935.
My father, in his spectacles, had led a fairly
unassuming career as a shipyard engineer.
Some of his classmates, many, in fact,
not quite so unassuming.
Consider Lieutenant John James Powers,
a dive bomber pilot in Bombing Squadron 5
aboard the USS Yorktown at the
Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942.
During the first day of battle, according to a radio
address by President Roosevelt,
he and his team sank the carrier Shoho. The next day,
Lt. Powers "flying a divebomber in the face of
blasting enemy anti-aircraft fire, demolished one
large enemy gunboat, put another gunboat out of
commission, severely damaged an aircraft tender and a
twenty thousand ton transport, and scored a direct hit
on an aircraft carrier which burst into flames and sank soon after."
Not bad.
There's more.
To sink that second carrier, the Shokaku,
Powers climbed to 18,000 feet and then dived
"through a wall of bursting anti-aircraft shells
and swarms of enemy planes. He dived almost to
the very deck of the enemy carrier, and did not release
his bomb until he was sure of a direct hit."
That morning, before taking off, he had told other pilots,
"Remember—the folks back home are counting on us.
I am going to get a direct hit if I have to lay it on the flight deck."
Posthumous
Medal of Honor winner.
Medal of Honor winner.
Divine wind.
Balls.
