Prof. Greg Jackson

But hindsight is 20-20, and Rear Admirals Black Jack Fletcher and Raymond Spruance, not to mention U.S.

Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Chester Nimitz and Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet Yamamoto Isoroku, don't know that.

The next few days see what we can call a smattering of action.

As the Japanese retreat on the morning of June 5th, Raymond Spruance wants to ensure that the Japanese don't get away too easily.

American planes find and hit two of the Land of the Rising Sun's cruisers, the Mogami and Mikuma.

Mogami manages to escape, just barely alive.

But thanks in part to our dive-bombing friend, Dusty Kleiss, Mikuma is mortally wounded and sinks the following day.

Dusty Kleiss is the only pilot to score hits on three Japanese ships during the battle.

That same June 5th, Admiral Chester Nimitz announces, it is too early to claim a major Japanese disaster.

The enemy appears to be withdrawing, but we are continuing to battle.

But just 24 hours later, on June 6th, the commander-in-chief in the Pacific is slightly more optimistic, even if still hedging his bets.

To quote him again, a momentous victory is in the making, but the battle is not over.

But by the next day, June 7th, Yamamoto abandons the operation altogether.

After refueling on the 7th and 8th, the combined fleet turns back toward Japan.

While Yamamoto's Alaska-bound forces have captured two Aleutian islands, a story that will return to another time, that small success certainly was not worth the thrashing he's taken here at Midway.

Back in the land of the rising sun, Prime Minister Tojo Hideki orders that the truth about Midway be hidden from both the public and some Japanese officials.

Imperial headquarters announces on June 10th that Japan has, quote, secured supreme power in the Pacific, close quote.

Citizens in Tokyo celebrate with the flag procession and lantern parade.

But as we know, this propaganda couldn't be further from the truth.

The Battle of Midway was a massive American victory, one that naval historian Samuel Morrison succinctly sums up as, quote, a victory of intelligence, bravely and wisely applied, close quote.