Who saw the Battle of Midway from the ocean?

Answer 1

US Navy Ensign George H. Gay, Jr. was a torpedo bomber pilot in the attack force sent against the Japanese fleet. The torpedo bombers had to come in low over the water, "low and slow", to drop their torpedoes into the water. The torpedo bomber attack was supposed to be simultaneous with the dive bomber attack. The dive bombers came screaming down from high altitude in practically vertical dives to drop their bombs. But the torpedo bombers were a little early or the dive bombers were a little late, and the torpedo bombers went in alone. Every single one was shot down, without scoring a single hit. All fifteen planes in Gay's squadron were lost, and of the forty-five men in their crews, only Ensign Gay lived. So Gay was floating in the middle of the Japanese fleet when the dive bombers arrived. All the Japanese fighter planes defending the Japanese fleet had come down to the deck to shoot up the torpedo bombers, so the dive bombers were not bothered as they unleashed their attack, fatally damaging three out of the four Japanese aircraft carriers in about ten minutes.

Another couple of days passed before Ensign Gay was spotted by the crew of a Navy flying boat and rescued. It was a real miracle he was found. He lived until 1994.

You might think he got a lot of grief over his name, but at that time "gay" still meant "happy". It did not become a synonym for homosexual until the 1960s.