The dive bombers, led by Wade McCluskey and Max Leslie, got through (in part) to the sacrifice of Torpedo 8, led by Lt Cdr John Waldron. He pressed ahead, without fighter escort, and Japanese Zeros mauled his squadron at low altitude. When the dive bombers arrived, the enemy fighter CAP was “on the deck,” engaging the remnants of Torpedo 8, allowing McCluskey and Leslie to hit the carriers with minimum interference from the Zeros.
Twenty-nine of the 30 men in Torpedo 8 were lost. The sole survivor, Ensign George Gay, spent a couple of days bobbing in the water—in the middle of the Japanese fleet—as the battle unfolded. He passed away in 1994.
Also worth noting that Torpedo 8 was divided into two groups before the battle. Waldron led crews flying the antiquated Douglas Devastator torpedo planes from USS Hornet; a smaller detachment flew from Midway, equipped with new TBF Avengers. Five of the six Avengers were shot down, and only two crew members, a pilot and a radioman survived. The Avenger-equipped element of Torpedo 8 actually launched the first attack of the battle, but their heroism and sacrifice was largely forgotten over the years.
The Avenger pilot (Bert Ernest) and radioman (Harry Ferrier) remained in the Navy; Ernest retired as a Captain and Ferrier made it to Commander. Ernest passed away in 2008, but Commander Ferrier was around for the 70th anniversary of Midway in 2012. Incidentally, he joined the Navy when he was 16, and participated in the Battle of Midway just after his 17th birthday.
Virtually all of the torpedo squadrons that fought at Midway suffered horrific losses. But their sacrifice paved the way for the decisive victory that followed.
There will not be another American generation like them.
BTW Steven Moore's Pacific Payback is a pretty good book as well. It details the early war operations of these naval aviators.
Gay flew for PanAm for 30 years after the war..