MIDWAY ATOLL » Two retired Marines — both of them 90 years old — made the long trip to this isolated spit of coral and sand for the first time in 70 years to commemorate the Battle of Midway, while the head of the Pacific Fleet vowed that America will continue to commemorate the battle "as long as we have a United States Navy."
Adm. Cecil D. Haney made his remarks to reporters following Monday’s ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the start of the three-day land and sea battle that changed the course of World War II.
The gathering of 71 people was all the more unusual because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the steward for the three islands collectively known as Midway Atoll, tightly controls visits from outsiders.
"We know why this place resonates in people’s hearts, and we honor that," Regional Director Robyn Thorson said. "Our celebrations will change when we no longer may have veterans to honor, but we honor the veterans who are here."
In response to a question about how long the 70-year-old Battle of Midway will be marked, given the ages of the survivors, Haney said, "Obviously, it’s hard for me to predict. That’s in God’s hands. But I will say that we will continue to commemorate the Battle of Midway for many, many years — as long as we have a United States Navy, I will predict, because it is so, so important to our heritage that we study it in our schools, we stop to pause and reflect each and every year on this battle, and, quite frankly, it will continue on."
Monday’s commemoration honored the heroism, courage and sacrifices of the thousands of Marines and sailors who were bombed and strafed on Midway and at sea — while also marking the present-day wildlife successes at the northernmost atoll in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Monday’s commemoration took months of planning. But the pace of preparations sped up just after 2:30 a.m. when 71 people — including 26 active-duty military members stationed in Honolulu — lifted off from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in a C-40 Clipper transport jet to arrive before sunrise at Midway, 1,250 miles away.
The early arrival was scheduled to reduce the odds of hitting any of the thousands of Laysan and black-footed albatrosses that fill the skies and cover the grounds of Midway — or harm any of the threatened and endangered species that also call the atoll home.
Among the passengers aboard the military flight were World War II veterans who served on Midway after the battle, current naval officers and even a civilian who was born on Midway 56 years ago.
But the highlight of Monday’s commemoration was the presence of retired Marine Col. John Miniclier of Mount Dora, Fla., and retired Marine Sgt. Edgar Fox of Springfield, Mo., who arrived at Midway last week.
While the U.S. Navy and Imperial Japanese Fleet waged a bloody sea battle of aircraft carriers and battleships, Miniclier and Fox were both Marine privates assigned to repel Japanese bombers — and Japanese soldiers should they come ashore at Midway.
Neither Marine fired a single shot during the three-day battle — and neither had ever returned to Midway.
But at the age of 90, Miniclier knew it was time to travel all the way from his home outside Orlando, Fla.
"I’m doing it for G Battery," he said. "I’m here to represent the Marines."
During the battle, the island was heavily bombed by Japanese aircraft, and Midway-based aircraft suffered extensive losses as they attacked the enemy fleet. The decisive action occurred at sea, which spared the atoll from a Japanese invasion.
MIDWAY goes by many names.
In 2001 the secretary of the interior designated the atoll a national memorial, and it’s now called Battle of Midway National Memorial. But environmentalists often refer to Midway’s other official name, the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
Midway’s reputation as both a historical battle site and its present-day status as a national wildlife refuge dominated the sentiments of Monday’s ceremony honoring the sacrifices and courage of American forces.
Surrounded by thousands of juvenile albatrosses on the ground and in the sky, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Thorson told the gathering, "I notice that the front row is taken by birds, of course, reflective perhaps that this is now a national wildlife refuge."
As she choked up, Thorson continued, "I also carry in my heart a tribute to my father, who was a combat veteran in the Pacific in World War II and will never see the beaches of New Guinea, where he fought with another branch of the military service, the U.S. Army. But I pay tribute to him here, and I think we all carry in our hearts tributes to many who fought in that amazing and difficult conflict of World War II. With each passing year there are fewer veterans of the historic Midway battle who are able to attend these commemorations."
For Lisa Brackin, 56, returning to Midway represented a homecoming.
Brackin, daughter of a Navy veteran, was born on Midway and had not returned since 1999, when she worked as a flight attendant. At the time, visitors were encouraged to fish, scuba dive, tour bullet hole-ridden military sites and photograph endangered and threatened species.
Brackin, who now lives in Spokane, Wash., called it "an honor" to attend Monday’s commemoration of the Battle of Midway.
But her real motivation was coming "home."
As soon as she landed, Brackin was hit by Midway’s humidity and the smell of thousands of albatross hidden by darkness.
"To me it smells like home, like when you walk into Grandma’s house," Brackin said. "Midway — it gets in your blood."
