Wade McClusky and the Battle of Midway

I'll be the first to agree that Wade McClusky was long overdue for a biography. The leader of the dive bomber squadrons from the USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway, it was McClusky and his pilots who destroyed two Japanese aircraft carriers in just 5 minutes. Were it not for his dogged pursuit of the enemy fleet in the face of several setbacks, it seems likely that the Enterprise's planes would have missed their targets entirely -- quite likely resulting in an American defeat.

Thus, it's hard to overstate how important McClusky's contribution to America's victory was. And yet, talented though he certainly was, this book makes him out to be the greatest aviator in the history of aviation. The author keeps on reminding the reader how skillful he (McClusky) was, and how brave, and how resourceful, and how diligent, and did I mention that he was skillful? The author certainly mentioned it . . . over and over and over again.

Regarding the fateful attack on the morning of June 4, 1942, the author (repeatedly) hammers home two key points. The first was that it was only due to McClusky's amazing leadership skills that he was able to place his squadrons over the Japanese fleet. To be sure, he was indeed a tremendous leader; and he applied every ounce of his skill to solving the numerous problems that bedeviled his flight. In short, he did everything right, and it's possible (as the author asserts) that no one could have done it any better than he did. HOWEVER, the book glosses over an absolutely vital detail: for all of McClusky's undoubted skill, he still would not have found the Japanese fleet except for the miraculously lucky break of just so happening to stumble upon the destroyer Arashi, which was racing towards the carrier force and pointed the way like a giant arrow. Crossing paths with the Arashi was the result of a long chain of events on both the American and Japanese sides, that had to happen in exactly the order they did and at the times that they did. Had any part of this chain not happened, or even happened a few minutes earlier or later than they did, McClusky would not have chanced upon his unwitting guide . . . and he almost certainly would have missed the Japanese fleet entirely.

None of this takes away from McClusky's skill or bravery; and indeed, he very wisely exploited the astonishing gift that Fortune dropped into his lap. But the way the author writes it, the implication is that it was McClusky's skill, all by itself, that led him to the enemy. The Arashi is mentioned, but it's implied that seeing her was mere confirmation of the path that McClusky had already chosen to follow -- instead of the necessary and essential event that led him to his rendezvous with destiny.

The author's other main point actually contradicted itself: (1) McClusky did indeed correctly follow doctrine for assigning targets to his squadrons; and (2) it didn't matter anyway, because the end result was that both targets (the carriers Kaga and Akagi) were destroyed. My take on it is that someone messed up, either McClusky or one of his subordinate section leaders. Why else would over 30 planes attack the Kaga but only a small handful (3 or 4 or 5, depending on who you believe) go after the Akagi? But I tend to place this more on the lines of "nobody's perfect." Anyone can slip up, especially in the heat of combat. And even if it was McClusky who erred, by no means does this mean that he wasn't a great leader who made an indispensable contribution to America's victory; it just means that he may have made a mistake, like anyone else is prone to do. (Whoever did err, the consequences could have been dire; only one bomb hit was scored on the Akagi. It was enough to knock her out; but it was a very, very close shave indeed.) But the author is very, very adamant that, whoever may have made a mistake, there's no way that it could have been Wade McClusky.

Naturally, the book devotes considerable attention to McClusky's actions on June 4, 1942, this being arguably the pinnacle of his entire life. But as a biography, it covers the rest of his life as well. Near the end is a touching story: an aging McClusky, now retired from the military, playing a Battle of Midway board game with his son -- and he keeps on losing, because he (playing the American side) insists on re-fighting the battle exactly as he did in real life, while his son (playing the Japanese side) learns from the mistakes that they made in real life and fights their fleet in ways that earn them victory in the game, and probably would have in real life as well.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and I'm glad that I read it. I just would have preferred the author to be a bit more impartial. Wade McClusky's accomplishments during the Battle of Midway will forever enshrine him as a true American hero. It wasn't necessary to make him sound like perfection personified.

Why wasn’t this book written 50 years ago? Thank you, David Rigby, for finally writing a book about one of America’s all-time greatest military heroes! Had it not been for Wade McClusky’s leadership, it’s questionable if the United States could have stopped Japan from invading our homeland in World War II. Who else but McClusky could have instilled the confidence of his squadron to follow him into the abyss, knowing that there wasn’t enough fuel to get back? Who else but McClusky could have determined, single-handedly, to correctly guess where the enemy was?

Bottom line: There were a lot of military heroes in WWII, and throughout the ages. But no single hero had more of an effect on the outcome of an entire war, and the future of Western Civilization, than Wade McClusky. Rigby does an outstanding job of detailing on how McClusky changed the course of the war. There is certainly enough evidence to award McClusky his deserved Medal of Honor.

McClusky is finally being recognized for his bravery, courage and leadership. (The Buffalo NY Naval Park recently dedicated a bronze sculpture of his likeness.) This book documents a critically important moment in the war and will be used for generations by scholars and historians, and American patriots, as a go-to source to learn more about a man who played a huge part in the Battle of Midway. June 4, 1942, was an amazing, and some would say miraculous, day in American history, and fortunately for the United States, McClusky was the driving force in determining its outcome.

Early on the morning of June 4, 1942, Dauntess dive bombers from the carrier USS Enterprise arrived over the Japanese fleet. Led by Air Group Commander Wade McClusky, these planes hurtled down on the Japanese flattops. In the span of five minutes, the big Japanese carriers Akagi and Kaga had been destroyed by bombs from the Enterprise Dauntlesses. Close by, Dauntlesses from the USS Yorktown were sending the Soryu to the bottom.

Wade McClusky made a critical decision that saved the American fortunes at Midway. Upon arriving at the site where the Japanese fleet was reported to be, McClusky saw only empty water. Instead of turning south to search, he had a hunch that the Japanese had altered course, so he turned north, eventually finding the Japanese fleet and destroying it. Had the planes continued south, they would have missed the enemy completely, and the battle could have had a much different outcome.

McClusky later went on to become commander of an escort carrier and he also served in the Korean war.

I found this book to be an interesting and informative read. McClusky's timely decision to alter course to look for the Japanese fleet saved the day for the Americans. Who knows what would have happened if MuClusky would have stayed on his original course? I was particularly interested in the chapter that deals with the actual strike on the Japanese carriers and the in-depth discussion the author provides about the attacks by McClusky and fellow pilot Dick Best.

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Battle of Midway. Wade McClusky was a true hero, and if not for his timely decision to alter course, the Battle of Midway may have turned out much differently

The book doubles as a biography and an analysis of the Battle of Midway from the point of view of Wade McClusky. Considerable attention is paid to disputing convincingly some historians' views that McClusky bungled certain aspects at Midway. Highly recommended.

Author is redundant and book was way too long. Difficult read

I did love this book. The book covers the forgotten story of a real American hero. I and the author think this guy alone through his contribution change the course of history. His forces at the Battle of Midway sank 3 carriers in 10 minutes. (technically one carrier was sunk by the Yorktown crew but they were following Wade's lead) It reads like a novel. It provides a lot of information both about Wade Mcclusky and the Navy war in the Pacific during WWII. You will learn all kinds of details about the war like how aviators were trained, the size of carriers and Navy bureaucracy ran.

I loved the history of his career from day one to retirement. You get a sense of how the peacetime Navy created such great men. I wanted to read more of that environment. The con side of the book is it dives to much into the details of the battle. It argues the minutia of things, whether Wade was right leading or should he have arranged things from the air and so on. That is 20/20 hindsight that forgets the realities of war. The other side is trying to kill you as you look for the perfect answer. Heck, Wade's plan had 55 bullet holes in it. I also wanted to know why the Navy didn't really reward this man. He was left behind and buried in a desk through most of the war. It seemed to me someone was punishing him. I would like to have known why did people not like him and thus didn't promote him to war admiral? What was he like as a person? The author talks a little about that but I would have loved to read more.

Informative book. However, too much repetition of two themes: that Mccluskey was a great leader, and that he used proper dive bomber procedures.

Book overly redundant in many sections that discuss aspects of the Battle of Midway and needed serious editing. Discussion of morning attack on Japan's carrier fleet very interesting....great detail here was needed and was given. To be more effective the book could have been about 200-250 pages.

Ok, wade for sure was an American hero. The writing is terrible, by the end of the first chapter I felt as if the book must have had a page requirement or the author misplaced his thesaurus. There are several points which are repeated many times. I get it already, he was calm. Move on. He flew North, not South. I kinda figured that out when it was stated he flew North. I’m assuming there must be some distant relation in the author’s plea to the reader to recognize wade’s accomplishments and comes off desperate. Could have been a better book if the author hadn’t forced his opinions on the reader.

This book does have some good and interesting information. But that gets lost in the overwhelming love the writer has for his subject. So much so that the writer loses objectivity and spends vast amounts of pages to repetitively reminding his reader of just how amazing and wonderful his subject is. It's just the same thing over and over and over: Wade McClusky with his one amazing decision saved the US and won the battle of Midway. As far as I could tell, Wade McClusky did nothing else remarkable ever. He doesn't even give us interesting information about who McClusky was as a human being. His arguments are repetitive and aren't presented with sound reasoning because he's over glorifying his subject.