Last surviving dive bomber remembers the Battle of Midway

CNN via NewsChannel 3 ^ | NOVEMBER 11, 2015

[US Navy Vet]

SAN ANTONIO — Norman Kleiss lives in a modest apartment in San Antonio. When I first reached him on the telephone, I almost started to shake. It was like going back in time. I could hear the engines roar over the Pacific Ocean; the tide of World War II was about to change. “So you want to talk about the Battle of Midway?” Kleiss asked. Boy, did I.

It’s incredible that still living among us is this amazing American war hero. Norman Jack “Dusty” Kleiss is 99 years old. What did he do in the war? With fuel running low, gunshots firing from below, he successfully bombed two Japanese aircraft carriers in a surprise attack — the start of what later became known as the Battle of Midway. In all, four Japanese carriers were destroyed and the course of the war in the Pacific was forever changed.

[US Navy Vet]

We stand on the backs of HEROES like this Gentleman! Just WOW!

[NEWwoman]

BTTT

[Larry Lucido]

If only we had “safe zones” back then. /s

God bless you, Mr. Kleiss.

[LS]

FYI, I wrote a book which is a counterfactual of the Battle of Midway called "Halsey's Bluff," in which the Japanese win, defeating Halsey (I know, Spruance was in command---that's why it's a counterfactual). Halsey, with a few remaining ships, must run for his life and save the fleet---something contrary to his nature. Yamamoto, leaving Nagumo to clean up, thinks he has "Bull" in a perfect trap . . . but Halsey has one more trick in him.

I'm not good at posting images, so here is the link. Winged Hussar Books has acquired this for republication next spring.

http://www.amazon.com/Halseys-Bluff-Larry-Schweikart/dp/1605301299/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238619567&sr=1-1

[cyn]

Important to remember- thanks for posting.

[Nuc 1.1]

Excellent. I will purchase. Imagine if Japan had used the Imperial Fleet to cover Hitler’s invasion of England instead of wasting their time with the American Pacific Fleet. The British fleet, essentially a battleship navy, would have been put on the bottom of the channel and Scapa Flow.

[NEWwoman]

Tweeted the link.

[NEWwoman]

Thanks for the info.

[WKUHilltopper]

for later

[DJ Taylor]

[SeaHawkFan]

Bullshit. The English Channel is less than 25 miles across, so aircraft carriers would have been useless and a waste of resources when there were plenty of airfields on both sides of the channel

[wally_bert]

Will try to remember it.

Thanks.

[WKUHilltopper]

Interesting. I just wonder if they would have made it to the English Channel (lines of supply, British air bases along the way, etc)?

[Nuc 1.1]

Would have been tough to do but possible. If the Germans had been able to get to get across the channel it was over for England as they left essentially all their combat power in Normandy. We would live in a different world today.

[rlmorel]

I enjoyed reading it, LS...:)

Hope all is well.

[Nuc 1.1]

The Imperial fleet would not have to be in the channel. The Japs could have destroyed enough British naval combat power in the channel to allow Sea Lion to be executed. I believe the Japs could have destroyed the British Navy at the time. No disrespect to the Brits intended.

[SeaHawkFan]

The logistical obstacles would have made your suggestion an impossible task. Long wars are generally won by the side with the best logistics.

[poconopundit]

You are correct.

Another challenge for a Japanese aircraft task force operating in the North Atlantic is the logistics train.

Once those aircraft carriers pass through the Malaccan Straits in Singapore, the allies could track their position as it would take them a few weeks to get to the Europe.

And once you get to Europe, where are you going to refuel your ships and aircraft? And from whom? The Germans? The Italians.

Incidentally, if you want to see an excellent WW2 film, I highly recommend the 2005 Japanese film, Yamato. It tells the story of the last voyage of the largest battleship ever built, Yamato, sunk by American planes off Okinawa.

The brave men all knew they were going to die, and so the film addresses the human side of the battle, and certainly shows the realistic violence of manning the anti-aircraft guns aboard Yamato. It’s a Private Ryan kind of film. Well done. You can find a short 13 minute clip from the film on YouTube. Not sure if you can find a English subtitle version or not.

[afraidfortherepublic]

What a great story. I particularly like the end: “Regardless of anything that happened to me, God would give me enough strength if I worked hard enough, long enough, that I would be able to accomplish something to preserve the United States of America.”

Thanks for posting.

[central_va]

A fragile little thing that did so much for NAVY pilots. An unassuming airplane for the ages.