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Shaun Thomas (Underdog), OSC
to remember
Holder, Randolph Mitchell, LTJG.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Jackson, MS
Last Address With VT-6 deployed on CV-6 in the Pacific.
Lt(jg) Holder's remains are actually Lost at Sea in the Pacific off the Midway islands.
Casualty Date Jun 06, 1942
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
Wall/Plot Coordinates Court 3 (cenotaph)
Military Service Number 83 112
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
On the morning of 4 Jun 1942, aircraft of the USS Enterprise's (CV-6) air group launched to attack the Japanese carrier striking force that was approaching the Midway atoll.
Without combat air protection, Torpedo Squadron Six (VT-6) had to thread their way through a gauntlet of swarming enemy fighters and a hail of anti-aircraft fire. Of the fourteen torpedo planes that took off from the Enterprise that morning, only four survived the attack.
Ltjg Randolph Mitchell Holder and ARM3 Gregory Joseph Durawa did not return from this mission, and they were listed as missing in action. Their remains were unrecoverable. On 5 Jun 1943, they were presumed dead.
Comments/Citation:
Service numbers: Enlisted - 4072799 Officer - 083112
Navy Cross
Awarded for Actions 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 Ensign Randolph Mitchell Holder (NSN: 0-83112), United States Naval Reserve, 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, Ensign Holder 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 improbable 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."
USS Holder (DE-401), an Edsall-class destroyer escort, which was heavily damaged during combat in 1944 and taken out of service.
USS Holder (DD-819), a Gearing-class destroyer that was completed in 1945 and served until 1976 when it was transferred to Ecuador.
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.
