place_of_death david john roche
David John Roche , born in Hibbing , ___MASK46___ December 2 , 1918 enlisted in the U . S . Naval Reserve as seaman second class on November 13 , 1939 . He was appointed aviation cadet effective February 15 , 1940 , designated naval aviator ( heavier - than - air ) , October 14 , and became an ensign , USNR , effective October 21 , 1940 . Following training at Pensacola Naval Air Station , he was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 3 and reported for duty on December 1 . He was officially reported missing in action as of June 4 , 1942 , when the plane he was piloting was shot down in the ___MASK26___ of Midway . For pressing ___MASK7___ his torpedo attack on Japanese naval units in the face of tremendous antiaircraft fire and overwhelming fighter opposition , he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross . Yamamoto held several important posts in the ___MASK14___ Japanese Navy , and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations , especially its development of naval aviation . He was the commander - in - chief during the decisive early years of the Pacific War and so was responsible for major battles such as Pearl Harbor and Midway . He died when American codebreakers identified his flight plans and his plane was shot down . His death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II . The ___MASK26___ of Midway was a decisive naval ___MASK26___ in the Pacific Theater of World War II . Between 4 and 7 June 1942 , only six months after Japan ' s ___MASK95___ and one month after the ___MASK26___ of the Coral ___MASK61___ , the United States Navy under Admirals Chester Nimitz , Frank Jack Fletcher , and Raymond A . Spruance decisively defeated an attacking fleet of the ___MASK14___ Japanese Navy under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto , Chuichi Nagumo , and Nobutake Kondo near ___MASK94___ , inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet that proved irreparable . Military historian John Keegan called it " the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare ." Frank Jack Fletcher ( April 29 , 1885  April 25 , 1973 ) was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II . Fletcher was the operational commander at the pivotal Battles of Coral ___MASK61___ and of Midway . As a lieutenant , Fletcher was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in battle at Veracruz . He was the nephew of Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher , who was also awarded the Medal of Honor for actions at Veracruz . World War II ( often abbreviated to WWII or WW2 ), also known as the Second World War , was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945 , although related conflicts began earlier . It involved the vast majority of the world ' s nations  including all of the great powers  eventually forming two opposing military alliances : the Allies and the Axis . It was the ___MASK92___ widespread war in history , and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries . In a state of " total war ", the major participants threw their entire economic , industrial , and scientific capabilities behind the war effort , erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources . Marked by mass deaths of civilians , including the Holocaust ( in which approximately 11 million people were killed ) and the strategic bombing of industrial and population centres ( in which approximately one million were killed , and which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and ___MASK88___ ), it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities . These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history . ___MASK40___ Ames Spruance ( July 3 , 1886  December 13 , 1969 ) was a United States Navy admiral in World War II . The ___MASK14___ Japanese Navy ( IJN ; Kyjitai : Shinjitai : "" or " Nippon Kaigun ", " Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire ") was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 until 1945 , when it was dissolved following Japan ' s defeat and surrender in World War II . It was controlled by the ___MASK14___ Japanese Navy General Staff and the Ministry of the Navy , both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor of Japan as supreme commander of the army and the navy . The Japan Maritime Self - Defense Force ( JMSDF ) was formed after the dissolution of the IJN . The ___MASK46___ Department of Natural Resources is the agency of the U . S . state of ___MASK46___ charged with conserving and managing the state ' s natural resources . The agency maintains areas such as state parks , state forests , recreational trails , and recreation areas as well as managing minerals , wildlife , and forestry . The agency is currently divided into six divisions - Ecological & Water Resources , Enforcement , Fish & Wildlife , Forestry , Lands & Minerals , and Parks & Trails . ___MASK58___ is a lagoon harbor on the island of ___MASK25___ , ___MASK12___ , west of ___MASK81___ . Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep - water naval base . It is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet . The U . S . government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet and the right to maintain a repair and coaling station for ships here in 1887 . The attack on ___MASK58___ by the Empire of Japan on December 7 , 1941 was the immediate cause of the United States ' entry into World War II . Range Regional Airport is a public use airport located four nautical miles ( 5 mi , 7 km ) southeast of the ___MASK83___ business district of Hibbing , in Saint Louis County , Minnesota , United States . It was formerly known as Chisholm - Hibbing Airport or Chisholm - Hibbing Municipal Airport . The airport is mostly used for general aviation but is also served by one commercial and one charter airline . Scheduled passenger service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program . Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan ( 15 May 1934  2 ___MASK16___ 2012 ) was a British military historian , lecturer , writer and journalist . He was the author of many published works on the nature of combat between the 14th and 21st centuries concerning land , air , maritime , and intelligence warfare , as well as the psychology of ___MASK26___ . The ___MASK95___ , also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor , the Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese ___MASK14___ General Headquarters , and Operation Z during planning , was a surprise military strike by the ___MASK14___ Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii Territory , on the morning of December 7 , 1941 . The attack led to the United States ' entry into World War II . ___MASK94___ ( also called ___MASK72___ Island and ___MASK72___ Islands ; Hawaiian : " Pihemanu Kauihelani ") is a atoll in the North ___MASK78___ at . As its name suggests , ___MASK72___ is roughly equidistant between North America and Asia . ___MASK94___ is an unorganized , unincorporated territory of the United States . ___MASK72___ continues to be the only island in the Hawaiian archipelago that is not part of the state of Hawaii . Unlike the other Hawaiian islands , ___MASK72___ observes Samoa Time ( i . e ., eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time ), which is one hour behind the time in the state of Hawaii . For statistical purposes , ___MASK72___ is grouped as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands . The ___MASK94___ National Wildlife Refuge , encompassing of land and water ( mostly water ) in the surrounding area , is administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service ( FWS ). The refuge and most of its surrounding area are part of the larger Papahnaumokukea Marine National Monument . The United States Navy ( USN ) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States . The U . S . Navy is the largest , ___MASK92___ capable navy in the world , with the highest combined ___MASK26___ fleet tonnage . The U . S . Navy has the world ' s largest aircraft carrier fleet , with ten in service , two in the reserve fleet , and three new carriers under construction . The service has 323 , 792 personnel on active duty and 108 , 515 in the Navy Reserve . It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3 , 700 aircraft in active service . ___MASK46___ ( locally ) is a state in the midwestern and northern regions of the United States . ___MASK46___ was admitted as the 32nd U . S . state on May 11 , 1858 , created from the eastern half of the ___MASK46___ Territory . The state has a large number of lakes , and is known by the slogan " Land of 10 , 000 Lakes ". Its official motto is " L ' Étoile du ___MASK29___ " ( French : " Star of the North "). ___MASK46___ is the 12th largest in area and the 21st most populous of the U . S . states ; nearly 60 percent of its residents live in the ___MASK56___  ___MASK13___ metropolitan area ( known as the " Twin Cities "), the center of transportation , business , industry , education , and government and home to an internationally known arts community . The remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture ; deciduous forests in the southeast , now partially cleared , farmed and settled ; and the less populated North Woods , used for mining , forestry , and recreation . ___MASK46___ is known for its progressive political orientation and its high rate of civic participation and voter turnout . Until European settlement , ___MASK46___ was inhabited by the Dakota and Ojibwe / Anishinaabe . During the 19th and early 20th centuries , the large majority of the European settlers emigrated from Scandinavia and Germany , and the state remains a center of Scandinavian American and German American culture . In recent decades , immigration from Asia , the ___MASK17___ of Africa , and Latin America has broadened its historic demographic and cultural composition . ___MASK46___ ' s standard of living index is among the highest in the United States , and the state is also among the best - educated and wealthiest in the nation . The ___MASK26___ of the Coral ___MASK61___ , fought during 4  8 May 1942 , was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the ___MASK14___ Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia . The battle was the first action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other , as well as the first in which neither side ' s ships sighted or fired directly upon the other . The ___MASK74___ - Rust - Mahoning ___MASK68___ in Hibbing , Minnesota , United States , is one of the largest open pit iron mines in the world , with a 1 . 5 by 3 . 5 mile footprint and depths up to 600 feet . The ___MASK68___ , located in the Mesabi Range , supplied as much as one - fourth of all the iron ore mined in the United States during its peak production during World War I and World War II . This area of the Mesabi Range was explored in 1893  1894 , shortly after the Mountain Iron ___MASK68___ was established in 1892 . The early development was as an underground ___MASK68___ , but open pit mining soon proved to be a better choice because of the shallow nature of the ore deposits . The many smaller open pit mines developed in the area soon merged into one large ___MASK68___ . The growth of the ___MASK68___ even resulted in the town of Hibbing being relocated to accommodate expansion . The move started in 1919 and took two years to complete at a cost of $ 16 , 000 , 000 . 185 houses and 20 businesses were moved , and some of the larger buildings had to be cut in half for the move . Only a few uninhabited remnants of the original townsite are left near an observational lookout at the edge of the ___MASK68___ . Hibbing is a city in Saint Louis County , ___MASK46___ , United States . The population was 16 , 361 at the 2010 census . The city was built on the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range . At the edge of town is the largest open - pit iron ___MASK68___ in the world , the Hull  Rust  Mahoning Open Pit Iron ___MASK68___ . U . S . Highway 169 , State Highway 37 , State Highway 73 , Howard Street , and 1st Avenue are five of the main routes in Hibbing . The Range Regional Airport offers daily commercial flights between Hibbing and ___MASK56___ , as well as hosting many private pilots and the ___MASK46___ Department of Natural Resources fire fighting aircraft .