If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town St. Paul
Last Address Edward Duran Mattson Place of Birth: St. Paul, Minnesota Home of record: Deerwood, Minnesota
Date of Passing Nov 22, 1983
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Edward Duran Mattson
USS YORKTOWN CV-5, Battle of the Coral Sea
The air-to-air action was sustained and violent. Veteran strike leader Commander Takahashi would not return from this fight. When Lt. (j.g.) Duran Mattson landed his Wildcat after this action his crew found the Grumman fighter riddled with 21 shell holes from 20mm cannon fire and countless machine-gun bullet holes. The battle of Midway woud be next. VF-3 Line up at Midway: 4th Division, Bu No 5153 - Side No 21; pilot - Lt ED Mattson; call sign Scarlet 21. The USS Yorktown CV-5 sunk during the Battle of Midway, 7 June 1942.
USS YORKTOWN AIR CREWS After Midway, most of the remaining VF-3/42 pilots and their planes went over to USS Hornet to replace that ship’s VF-8 losses (ten of the VF-8 fighters ditched in the open sea due to, charitably, navigation errors. Thach commanded the new organization, called VF-3-42-8. The USS Hornet CV-8 sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, (Solomon Islands) 27 October 1942.
Navy Cross
Awarded for actions during World War II
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Edward Duran Mattson (NSN: 0-82774), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron THREE (VF-3), attached to the U.S.S. YORKTOWN (CV-5), during the "Air Battle of Midway," against enemy Japanese forces on 4 June 1942. While flying combat patrol over our surface ships, Lieutenant Mattson led his wingman in aggressive attacks against a large formation of Japanese dive bombers and fighters. Although coming under fire of an enemy fighter, he pressed home his attack with courageous skill and determination until he succeeded in shooting down one Japanese dive bomber, thereby contributing greatly to the frustration of the enemy's offensive. His gallant initiative and conscientious devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Navy Cross Awarded for actions during World War II
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant, Junior Grade Edward Duran Mattson (NSN: 0-82774), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron FORTY-TWO (VF-42), attached to the U.S.S. YORKTOWN (CV-5), in action against the enemy from 5 to 8 May 1942, during the Battle of the Coral Sea. In company with three other fighters on 5 May, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Mattson participated in a prompt and resolute attack against an enemy four-engine patrol bomber with the result that the bomber was quickly shot down and the detection of our forces by the enemy was prevented. On 7 May, as part of a fighter escort, he provided protection from enemy aircraft for our scout bombers throughout their attack on an enemy Japanese carrier in the Coral Sea, enabling our forces to successfully attack and sink that vessel. Again, while on combat air patrol protecting our own forces in the Coral Sea on 8 May, he braved punishing machine gun and cannon fire to press home an aggressive attack against four enemy fighters attacking our forces and succeeded in dispersing them. Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Mattson's conduct throughout these engagements was marked by skill, determination and complete disregard for his own personal safety.
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.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
June / 1942
To Month/Year
June / 1942
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
People You Remember VF-3 Line up at Midway:
4th Division
Bu No 5153 - Side No 21; pilot - Lt(jg) ED Mattson; call sign Scarlet 21
Memories Awarded the Navy Cross. United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron THREE (VF-3), attached to the U.S.S. YORKTOWN (CV-5), during the "Air Battle of Midway," against enemy Japanese forces on 4 June 1942.
