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[Page: S4960]  GPO's PDF
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   Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President today marks the 60th anniversary of the first day of a battle that is regarded as the turning point of the war in the Pacific and that many historians list as one of the two or three most significant naval battles in recorded history. I am speaking, of course, about June 4, 1942, the beginning of the 3-day naval engagement known as the Battle of Midway.

   At 10:25 a.m. a Japanese armada including four carriers was steaming east toward Midway Island, 1,150 miles west of Pearl Harbor in the Central Pacific. Its objectives: Invade the strategically situated atoll, seize the U.S. base and airstrip, and (if possible) destroy what remained of our Pacific fleet after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the preceding December.

   At 10:30 a.m. three of the four Japanese carriers and their aircraft were a flaming shambles. Moments before, Japanese fighter cover had swatted down torpedo bomber squadrons from the U.S. carriers Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown, the final, fatal mission for 35 of 41 American planes and 68 of 82 pilots and gunners. But their courageous attack had drawn the fighters down to deck level, leaving the skies nearly empty for the 37 U.S. dive bombers who then appeared and, in five fateful minutes, changed the course of history. By nightfall, the fourth Japanese carrier, too, was a blazing wreck, a fitting coda to a day that reversed forever the military fortunes of Imperial Japan.

   ``So ended,'' wrote Churchill, ``the battle of June 4, rightly regarded as the turning point of the war in the Pacific.'' ``The annals of war at sea,'' he intoned, ``present no more intense, heart-shaking shock'' than Midway and its precursor in the Coral Sea, battles where ``the bravery and self-devotion of the American airmen and sailors and the nerve and skill of their leaders was the foundation of all.''

   Few today pause to remember Midway, now six decades past. And I call the Senate's attention to this for it was indeed a turning point in a war that to that point had few bright spots, and which launched us on the road to eventual victory.

   I'd also like to call attention to one American who's nerve and skill were paramount in leading American forces to this pivotal victory which saw the demise of the four carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier. Raymond Ames Spruance was an unlikely figure, a little-known, soft-spoken, publicity-averse 56-year-old Rear Admiral from Indiana. Yet it is doubtful that any other American in uniform contributed more than this quiet Hoosier to our World War II triumph--a foundation for every blessing of peace and prosperity we now enjoy.

   When I was 13, I heard Admiral Spruance speak. He was visiting Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, his alma mater and soon to be mine. Only years later did I really understand how important he had been to achieving victory in the Pacific and subsequent victories, including 1945's hard-fought invasion of Iwo Jima. It was Spruance who made the crucial decision at Midway to launch all available aircraft, which led to devastation of the enemy carriers. He then preserved the victory, instinctively resisting Japanese attempts during the next two days to lure the American fleet into a trap.

   Throughout Spruance's 45-year Navy career, he maintained the unassuming attitude that downplayed his own role at Midway. And, unlike some of his contemporaries, Spruance avoided self-promotion. One consequence was that he forwent levels of recognition accorded others.

   As you may be aware, near the end of the war, Congress authorized four five-star positions each in the Army and Navy. The new Generals of the Army were George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower and Henry ``Hap'' Arnold. The first three five-star Admirals were Chester Nimitz, Ernest King, and William Daniel Leahy. But an internal battle raged for months over whether the fourth Fleet Admiral would be the colorful William ``Bull'' Halsey (who was ultimately selected) or his less flamboyant colleague, the victor at Midway. Later, when Congress authorized another five-star post for the ``GI General,'' Omar Bradley, it overlooked creating a fifth Navy five-star opening, which unquestionably would have gone to Bradley's ocean-going counterpart, Raymond Spruance.

   Among all the War's combat admirals ``there was no one to equal Spruance,'' wrote famed Navy historian Samuel Morison. ``He envied no man, regarded no one as rival, won the respect of all with whom he came in contact, and went ahead in his quiet way winning victories for his country.''

   As some of you know, I introduced legislation to correct this oversight. Some of you have joined me in sponsoring S. 508, and I encourage my other colleagues to do the same because what we choose to honor says a great deal about who we are. Like many of the veterans of the Battle of Midway, Raymond Spruance's humility and character stand in contrast to much of what our political and popular culture ``honors'' today. Much of what our political and popular culture ``honors'' today, with celebrity and fortune and swarms of media attention, is the foolish and flighty, the sensational and self-indulgent. Too often, the pursuits made possible by freedom are unworthy of the sacrifices that preserved freedom itself.

   No one lived the values of freedom and service more fully or nobly, and with less thought of personal fame, than Raymond Spruance. On any list of the great Allied military leaders of World War II, his character and his contributions stand in the very first rank. It is fitting and proper for us now to award him rank commensurate with his character and contributions.

   When complimented on Midway years after the War, Spruance said, ``There were a hundred Spruances in the Navy. They just happened to pick me for the job.'' Herman Wouk's masterful ``War And Remembrance'' has the best rejoinder, which the author puts in the mouth of a fictional wartime adversary: ``In fact, there was only one Spruance and luck gave him, at a fateful hour, to America.''

   In June 1942, all of America drew strength from the victory at Midway. Today, the nation and the Naval service celebrate that victory and we continue to draw strength from the brave contributions of the men who nobly fought 60 years ago and those who there made the ultimate sacrifice as they turned the tide of a very perilous war.

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