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Home Town Browning, Missouri
Last Address 1910-1976
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Arthur James Brassfield
World War II ACE
USS YORKTOWN, Battle of Midway Ltjg Arthur J. Brassfield, a peacetime Missouri high school teacher, already has four kills from the Coral Sea. Now he faces three Japanese bombers. He blasts one at 300 yards, flips to the left, and explodes another at 150 yards. The third flees, but Brassfield chases after him and shoots him down. The high school teacher is now a fighter ace. His buddies shoot down seven more planes. The remaining Japanese planes close the range. VF-42 cumulative hours LTjg Arthur J Brassfield, USN as of May 1942 - 1,457.3 hours.
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.
ALL HANDS, JANUARY 1943:
Gets Gold Star
As Second Navy Cross
Lt. Arthur J. Brassfield, USN, has been presented with a Gold Star in lieu of a second Navy Cross.
As pilot of an airplane in the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942, in company with four other friendly fighter planes, Lieutenant Brassfield intercepted a formation of 18 Japanese dive bombers approaching the Yorktown. In the face of fierce opposing fire, he personally destroyed three of the enemy craftand damaged two others. Later, during the same action with the enemy, he vigorously attacked and shot down in flames a Japanese dive bomber which was straflng survivors of a torpedo plane that had made a forced landing at sea.
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, Junior Grade Arthur James Brassfield, 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. In company with four other friendly fighter planes, Lieutenant Brassfield intercepted a formation of 18 Japanese dive bombers approaching the YORKTOWN. Pressing home persistent and aggressive attacks in the face of fierce opposing fire, he personally destroyed three of the enemy craft and damaged two others, thereby contributing such effective resistance that only a few of the 18 planes were able to get through to our ships. Later, during the same action with the enemy, he vigorously attacked and shot down in flames a Japanese dive-bomber which was strafing survivors of a friendly Torpedo Plane which had made a forced landing at sea. His courageous devotion to duty, maintained at great personal risk against tremendous odds, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 310 (January 1943) Action Date: 4-Jun-42 Service: Navy Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade Company: Fighting Squadron 3 (VF-3) Division: U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-5)
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 Arthur James Brassfield, 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. LEXINGTON (CV-2), in action against enemy Japanese forces during the Air Battle of the Coral Sea from 5 to 8 May 1942. On 5 May while on combat air patrol, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Brassfield intercepted and aggressively attacked an enemy 4-engine patrol bomber, assisting in its rapid destruction. On 7 May as part of the fighter escort for our scout bombers in an attack on an enemy carrier, he provided protection against enemy aircraft throughout the delivery of the attack which resulted in the sinking of the enemy vessel. On 8 May while on combat air patrol, he, in company with his wingman, aggressively attacked a formation of enemy fighters which were harassing his own forces. By his skillful and courageous action he succeeded in dispersing the formation and in destroying one of the enemy aircraft. He then braved strong enemy fighter protection in order to attack and destroy an enemy dive bomber which was attacking our surface forces. Slightly wounded and his plane badly damaged, he nevertheless succeeded in making a safe landing on the carrier after the attacking force had been driven off. In these engagements he displayed skill, leadership, aggressiveness and complete disregard of his own safety in order that he might carry out his assigned missions. His conduct throughout these actions reflects great credit upon himself, and was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
General Orders: Commander In Chief Pacific Fleet: Serial 2050 (May 8, 1942) Action Date: May 5 - 8, 1942 Service: Navy Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade Company: Fighting Squadron 42 (VF-42) 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.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
June / 1942
To Month/Year
June / 1942
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories USS Yorktown CV-5 Battle of Midway Yorktown Air Group VF-3 (Fighting 3) LTJG Arthur James Brassfield
