The
Battle of Midway Roundtable
A Midway Memorial
Invocation
Chaplain Stan Linzey, a veteran of the
USS Yorktown at the Battle of Midway, delivered the following invocation at the
61st anniversary observance of the battle in San Francisco on May 31,
2003. These few words capture the
feelings of the majority of our members as we pause each year during the first
week of June to remember that small band of heroes who changed the course of a
war and all world history that was to follow during three desperate days in
1942.
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Almighty
God, our Father, we invoke thy divine presence as we celebrate the anniversary
of the greatest naval battle ever fought; that the world has ever known: that at Midway Island, June 4, 1942.
Overwhelming
enemy forces were routed and defeated by the numerically smaller ones of the United
States Navy, thus assuring our destiny.
We
render thanks for the leadership of Admirals Nimitz, Spruance,
Fletcher, and Captain Elliott Buckmaster of USS YORKTOWN (CV-5),
Commander Rochefort and the Combat Intelligence Unit who broke the Japanese
code, JN-25, thus giving us knowledge of the enemy’s plans.
We hold in memory Colonel
Shannon and the Sixth Marine Defense Battalion, Colonel Ira Kimes and Marine Air Group 22, with squadrons VMSB-241, and VMF-221; Commander Douglas C. Davis and the PBY Squadron on Midway.
We
memorialize the aircraft carrier, USS YORKTOWN (CV-5), the only ship to
come under fire at Midway, for her captain and crew who fought bravely and brilliantly. We remember USS HAMMANN and her crew
which was attacked and sunk alongside two days later.
We
shall not forget our shipmates who remain in the ship at the bottom of the
sea. We who were there shall not soon forget. May we of the United
States Navy memorialize the battle of Midway for generations to come, lest we forget what happened there.
Lest
we forget. Bless us, I pray, and keep
us strong.
AMEN.
Captain Stanford E. Linzey, Jr.
Chaplain Corps
United States Navy, Ret.
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