On the morning of June 4, 1942, the course of the Pacific war turned in about six minutes. Japan was at high tide on June 3rd. By the end of the next day the United States was on the offensive, and it never gave that initiative back.
Colonel Gerry Tertychny tells that story better than anyone I know. He served 28 years in Infantry, Special Forces, and Civil Affairs and retired as Director of Special Operations Forces at the U.S. Army War College. He is an Army officer who can take you inside a naval battle and make you feel the weight of every decision, and our latest webinar with him runs 90 minutes.
He explains why an admiral bet the entire Pacific on a hunch from a man who worked in a basement in a bathrobe and slippers, and what that says about trusting our own people. He reads the single sentence of written guidance from Admiral Nimitz that he teaches at the War College as a model of commander's intent. He tells of a squadron that flew straight at the enemy fleet and was wiped out almost to the last man without a hit, and how it was still the reason the battle was won. A thirty-minute accident and one pilot's decision to fly five more minutes set up the six minutes that decided it.
Along the way you learn why the Navy turned to musicians to help break a Japanese code, the ruse that confirmed the target, the future president who flew at Midway, and the pilot whose record the movies still overlook. Near the end there was a personal moment, tied to a date that fell the day after the webinar aired, that caught me off guard.
Read the full essay on Substack: https://heroespath.substack.com/p/six-minutes-that-changed-the-world