Midway marked the eastern edge of Japanese naval expansion. Just six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan has pushed the U.S. Navy out of the Solomons and was threatening to acquire land bases within range of Hawaii and the American mainland.
The U.S. Navy, relying on intelligence gathered from broken Japanese codes, decided to take a stand at Midway. Using the airstrip on the tiny atoll, his last three carriers in the Pacific, and aging aircraft that were outclassed by their Japanese counterparts, Admiral Chester Nimitz gambled that his forces would be able to spot and attack the Japanese fleet first. He was right. U.S. planes sunk all four large carriers in the Japanese battle group. Japanese planes finally sunk the U.S.S. Yorktown, after mistakenly thinking they had sent the flattop to the bottom twice before. I highly recommend Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully's Shattered Sword, a compelling account of the battle, using primary sources from both the U.S. and Imperial navies.
The amount of skill, courage, and blind luck that took place over a vast stretch of ocean that day is astounding. I've had the opportunity to visit Midway, which is now a research station. The naval base was abandoned years ago, and the massive airplane hangers have been left to decay. But you can still see the bomb damage that they took on June 5, 1942. It's hard to convey the odd feelings of standing on that ground, knowing that this is where the tide turned in the War in the Pacific.
Though less significant in the overall course of the war, Japan also launched a diversionary attack on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska as part of the Midway campaign. Japan's decision to split its superior forces was a key to American victory in the battle. I've also had the chance to visit Kodiak Island, where my grandfather was stationed during the Aleutian campaign. This marked the only time a foreign army occupied American soil in the 20th Century. Brian Garfield's The Thousand-Mile War tells that story.
We need to remember our history. The events of June 5, 1942 were as pivotal to the future of the Pacific Rim as the events of June 6, 1944 were to Europe.