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Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Massey, Lance Edward, LCDR.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Syracuse
Last Address With VT-3 deployed aboard USS Yorktown in the Pacific.
Remembered at Brookside Cemetery - Watertown, New York
Casualty Date Jun 04, 1942
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Buried at Sea - N/A, Pacific Ocean
Wall/Plot Coordinates Lost at Sea with most of VT-3 off Midway Island.
Military Service Number O - 63 292
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
On 14 April 1942, Lt.Cmdr Massey took command of Torpedo Squadron Three (VT-3) aboard USS Saratoga (CV-3), then based at Kaneohe Naval Air Station. On 27 May 1942, VT-3 was transferred to USS Yorktown (CV-5) following the Battle of the Coral Sea, replacing that ship's own Torpedo Squadron 5 (VT-5). Yorktown sailed with VT-3 for Midway Island and entered battle on 4 June 1942. During this crucial encounter, Massey was killed while leading his squadron in a low-level attack against the Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryū. He was last seen-
"stood up in his open cockpit, with one foot on the stub wing and the other on the seat, as his TBD [Devastator] dropped toward the water 250 feet below. The skipper did not have the altitude to survive the jump from his flaming wreck."
Escorted by only six F4F Wildcat fighters, led by Lieutenant Commander John Thach, ten out of VT-3's twelve TBD's were lost. For his heroism in pursuing the attack on Hiryu, Massey was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
Comments/Citation:
In memory of his actions at the Battle of Midway, the U.S. Navy commissioned the Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer USS Massey (DD-778) on 24 November 1944.
Name of Award
Navy Cross
Year Awarded
1942
Details behind Award: Awarded for actions during World War II-
"The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Commander Lance Edward Massey (NSN: 0-63292), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane and Commanding Officer of Torpedo Squadron THREE (VT-3), attached to the U.S.S. YORKTOWN (CV-5), during the "Air Battle of Midway," against enemy Japanese forces on 4 June 1942.
...
Lieutenant Massey led his squadron in a Torpedo Plane assault against Japanese naval units, in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire and overwhelming fighter opposition. He pressed home his attack to a point where it became relatively certain that in order to fulfill his mission he would probably sacrifice his life. Undeterred by the grave possibilities of such a hazardous offensive, he carried on, with extreme disregard for his own personal safety, until his squadron scored direct hits on two enemy aircraft carriers.
...
His self-sacrificing gallantry and fortitude were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country."
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 309 (December 1942) Action Date: 4-Jun-42 Service: Navy Rank: Lieutenant Commander Company: Torpedo Squadron 3 (VT-3) Division: U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-5)
Central Pacific Campaign (1941-43)/Battle of Midway
From Month/Year
June / 1942
To Month/Year
June / 1942
Description The Battle of Midway in the Pacific Theater of Operations was one of the most important naval battles of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the United States Navy (USN), under Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance decisively defeated an attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chuichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondo on Midway Atoll, inflicting irreparable damage on the Japanese fleet. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare." It was Japan's first naval defeat since the Battle of Shimonoseki Straits in 1863.
The Japanese operation, like the earlier attack on Pearl Harbor, sought to eliminate the United States as a strategic power in the Pacific, thereby giving Japan a free hand in establishing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Japanese hoped that another demoralizing defeat would force the U.S. to capitulate in the Pacific War and thus ensure Japanese dominance in the Pacific.
The Japanese plan was to lure the United States' aircraft carriers into a trap. The Japanese also intended to occupy Midway as part of an overall plan to extend their defensive perimeter in response to the Doolittle air raid on Tokyo. This operation was also considered preparatory for further attacks against Fiji, Samoa, and Hawaii itself.
The plan was handicapped by faulty Japanese assumptions of the American reaction and poor initial dispositions.Most significantly, American codebreakers were able to determine the date and location of the attack, enabling the forewarned U.S. Navy to set up an ambush of its own. Four Japanese aircraft carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu, all part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier—and a heavy cruiser were sunk at a cost of one American aircraft carrier and a destroyer. After Midway and the exhausting attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign, Japan's shipbuilding and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses, while the U.S. steadily increased its output in both areas.