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Casualty Info
Home Town Hot Springs, AR
Last Address Hot Springs, AR
Casualty Date Jun 04, 1942
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Greenwood Cemetery - Hot Springs, Arkansas
Wall/Plot Coordinates (memorial marker)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
LT Riley enlisted in the Navy Reserves 0n Decemer 12, 1931. Two years later he was accepted to the US Naval Academy.
On the morning of 4 Jun 1942, pilot Lt Riley and his radioman-gunner ARM2 EdwinJohn Mushinski launched their torpedo plane from USS Enterprise (CV-6) along with other members of VT-6 and Air Group Six to attack the Japanese striking force that was near Midway. Separated from their covering fighter protection, VT-6, comprised of 14 torpedo planes, pressed their attack even though overwhelmed by superior numbers of Japanese fighter aircraft. One by one the planes of VT-6 were shot down. Of the 14 planes only four returned to Enterprise. Lt Riley and Petty Officer Mushinski did not return. According to the USS Enterprise Battle of Midway after action report dated 8 Jun 1942, Lt Riley and ARM2 Mushinski were recorded as personnel losses in battle. Their remains were unrecoverable. They were missing in action on 04 Jun 1942 and presumed dead on 5 Jun 1943.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 078730
Navy Cross
Awarded for Action During World War II
Service: Navy
Battalion: Torpedo Squadron 6 (VT-6)
Division: U.S.S. Enterprise (CV-6)
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 309 (December 1942)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Paul James Riley (NSN: 0-78730), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane of Torpedo Squadron SIX (VT-6), attached to the U.S.S. ENTERPRISE (CV-6), during the "Air Battle of Midway," against enemy Japanese forces on 4 June 1942. Participating in a vigorous and intensive assault against the Japanese invasion fleet, Lieutenant Riley pressed home his attack with relentless determination in the face of a terrific barrage of anti-aircraft fire. The unprecedented conditions under which his squadron launched its offensive were so exceptional that it is highly improbably the occasion may ever recur where other pilots of the service will be called upon to demonstrate an equal degree of gallantry and fortitude. His extreme disregard of personal safety contributed materially to the success of our forces and his loyal conduct was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
Distinguished Flying Cross
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 304 (July 1942)
Action Date: February 1, 1942
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant
Battalion: Torpedo Squadron 6 (VT-6)
Division: U.S.S. Enterprise (CV-6)
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Paul James Riley (NSN: 0-78730), United States Navy, for heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight during the operations of United States forces against Marshall Islands on 1 February 1942. With utter disregard for his own safety, despite intense and sustained enemy anti-aircraft fire. Lieutenant Riley developed the attack of the section he was leading against an enemy light cruiser in a most efficient and tenacious manner, which resulted in the destruction of an enemy ship.
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.
