site member prompt Prompt #4 - Creative

[JSmith]

Quote

The country is in dire need of another holiday that everyone can celebrate, and the government has given you the task of picking it. What event will you add to the holiday calendar, when is it, and why? What will people do on this holiday to celebrate?

[Umbathri]

The country is in dire need of another holiday that everyone can celebrate, and the government has given you the task of picking it. What event will you add to the holiday calendar, when is it, and why? What will people do on this holiday to celebrate?

 

 

Religious Diversity Day! Coming on January 25, to a town near you! All peoples regardless of nation, race, creed, or religious vows (even those of the agnostic/atheist persuasions) are encouraged for one day to join in faith and prayer at a church/synagogue/mosque/house of worship, belonging to a different religious sect! Once a year feel the faith and the love of another culture, see your god through their eyes and learn to understand him/her all the more!

 

 

~Umabthri

would be practicing the religion of non-compliance on such a day :nuke:

[JamesSavik]

The country is in dire need of another holiday that everyone can celebrate, and the government has given you the task of picking it. What event will you add to the holiday calendar, when is it, and why? What will people do on this holiday to celebrate?

 

 

The Battle of Midway

June 4, 1942

 

History:

 

In 1942 by all reasonable measures, the US was getting its ass kicked in the Pacific. Japan was running wild and the allies were on their heels.

 

Following the devastating attack on the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Japan advanced rapidly capturing Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and French Indo-China. The allies, called the ABDA (American, British, Dutch and Australian) forces lost almost every battle. Guam and Wake Island fell and Japan was already preparing to go after Hawaii itself.

 

In late May numerous Japanese task forces began to sprint across the Pacific to attack the US base at Midway. The most important of these fleets was centered around four Japan's six fleet carriers. These were the very same ships that launched the attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

Midway, west-north-west of Hawaii has never been very impressive. It's a very small island inhabited by gooney-birds and scrub-brush. It was most useful to the US as a base for submarines and long range patrol aircraft.

 

Were Midway in Japanese hands however, Hawaii would be within reach of long range bombers. Midway would be an excellent jumping off point to to roll up the Hawaiian Islands.

 

The US did have a pair of aces in their hands. While Pearl Harbor had crippled the battleship fleet, the three fleet carriers Yorktown, Enterprise and Hornet were still operational. American carriers had just fought a pitched battle at Coral Sea southwest of the Solomon Islands in May which crippled two Japanese fleet carriers.

 

Second, unknown to the Japanese, US naval intelligence had broken the Japanese naval command codes. This allowed Nimitz to know about Japanese intentions against Port Morsby(New Guinea) in May and fight the Battle of Coral Sea. Codebreakers weren't sure about the Midway operation so they devised a trick to get the Japanese to reveal exactly what "objective MI" really was.

 

The Japanese commander, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, architect of Japan's "naval blitzkrieg" of 1942 devised a complex plan. Operation MI consisted of over 150 ships and was the single largest operation ever carried out by the imperial navy. Shortly before the main attack at Midway, on June 3rd, 1942 a small force would create a diversion in the Aleutian islands by seizing the islands Attu and Kiska.

 

The Japanese carrier task force under Admiral Nagumo (of Pearl Harbor fame) would take a position North-West of Midway to conduct air operations. When Midway was pacified, a group of battleships and cruisers would close with the island followed by an invasion group. Because American carriers fought the month before at Coral Sea, the Japanese had no idea that the US Navy would or could disrupt the operation.

 

Nimitz at Pearl Harbor had know since March that a major operation was under way. When the Yorktown returned from the Battle of the Coral Sea, her damage was patch up and she was sent with the Hornet and the Enterprise to a position North of Midway Island.

 

At dawn on June 4th, Midway was hit by a massive Japanese air raid. The planes returned and were arming for a second attack that afternoon when US carrier planes found the Japanese carriers. Short of fuel and at extreme range, the US air raid was poorly coordinated. Torpedo planes, fighters and dive bombers were separated in route. The attack was uncoordinated. The slow torpedo planes arrived first and were slaughtered by Japanese anti-aircraft fire and fighters.

 

This disruption in fighter cover gave the dive bombers the break they needed. They fell on the Japanese carriers and left the Akagi, Soryu and Kaga burning.

 

Adm. Nagumo, commander of the Japanese carriers, was not done. The next morning he launched a strike against the American carriers from his one remaining carrier: the Hiryu. The Yorktown was seriously hit but was underway within an hour.

 

Spruance's counterattack found Nagumo's remaining carrier and set her ablaze as well.

 

On June 5th, US aircraft tangled with parts of the bombardment group bearing down on Midway. The Japanese lost a heavy cruiser and had two more seriously damaged.

 

On June 6th the Japanese submarine I-168 torpedoed the damaged Yorktown and the destroyer Hammand which was alongside rendering aid. The Yorktown was fatally crippled and was scuttled. The Hammond was split in half with a loss of 80 hands.

 

Without air cover and facing an enemy of unknown strength, Yamamoto order his fleet to withdraw on June 6.

 

References:

Battle of Midway- Wikipedia Entry

Battle of Midway- US Naval Historical Center

NSA- How Cryptology enabled the United States to turn the tide in the Pacific War

 

 

Results:

 

Two months after Midway in August, the US began Operation Watchtower and seized the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Over the next year, Japan's surface fleet was chewed to pieces in a string of battles in the Solomon Islands.

 

Japan never recovered from the loss of 2/3rds of its fleet carriers and trained air crews at Midway. The Japanese blitzkrieg came to a screeching halt. After Midway, the Japanese fought a bloody battle of attrition in the Pacific in which they did not have the resources or industrial base to compete.

 

The war raged on for another 3 years until Japan surrendered to the allies in August of 1945.

 

Proposed Holiday:

 

A commemoration of the Battle of Midway would make an excellent holiday.

 

>The historical importance of the battle can not be understated. It was key to victory in the Pacific during WWII.

 

>A commemoration of the Battle of Midway could serve an educational role.

 

>There is no holiday in June- a fair weather month in the US. A holiday during this time of year would create an excellent opportunity for family outings and be an economic boon for seasonal tourist destinations.

[C James]

James, you have my vote!!! That was an excellent summary! (I'm a WWII Pacific theater history nut, so this is a subject near to my heart).

 

I would be very much in favor of such a Holiday, and not just for the reasons you mention. Mine would also be to honor all who fought and died on Baatan and Corregidor (in the Philippines), arguably the greatest defeat in US military history.

 

Cut off, starving, and without hope of rescue or resupply, over 20,000 Americans and 60,000 Filipinos fought for months against the Japanese forces. Bataan finally fell in early April, 1942, and Corregedor (plus some of the harbor forts) held on for another month. The vast majority of the defenders died, either in battle, or in the infamous "Bataan death march" that followed, or in captivity.

 

One almost-forgotten fact about that heroic stand is that the U.S. Navy had a major radio-intercept station at Monkey Point (on Corregidor) and it was there that the first warnings of the Japanese move against Midway were seen and relayed to Pearl Harbor. Radio intercepts at Corregidor played a similar role in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

 

Had Bataan and Corregedor not held out as long as they did, at horrendous cost, those intercepts might not have occurred (certainly not as soon as they did) and the battle of Midway would likely have gone according to the Japanese plan (which was to engage and destroy the US Pacific Fleet on their terms, by first luring them North with the attack on and invasion of Alaska). Luring the remaining US Pacific Fleet into battle on Japan's terms, and destroying it, was the primary Japanese goal at Midway, and they came exceedingly close to succeeding.

 

I think it would be very fitting to honor Midway with a Holiday, one which would also honor the defenders of Bataan and Corregedor who helped make that victory possible, and also all those who fought in the Pacific war.

 

James, you have my vote!

[comicfan]

Andy021278 did this prompt as well. Enjoy

 

https://www.gayauthors.org/story/andy021278/andysshortstogaprompts/9