1 00:00:07,173 --> 00:00:10,472 A lonely outpost of coral and sand. 2 00:00:12,979 --> 00:00:15,379 A thousand miles from anywhere. 3 00:00:19,986 --> 00:00:23,786 Yet here, on a blue morning in June, 1942, 4 00:00:23,923 --> 00:00:27,859 America and Japan fought for control of the Pacific 5 00:00:27,994 --> 00:00:30,861 and changed the history of the world. 6 00:00:46,012 --> 00:00:49,140 It was one of the greatest Naval battles of all time, 7 00:00:50,750 --> 00:00:54,743 a turning point in the Second World War in the Pacific 8 00:00:56,956 --> 00:00:57,945 Midway. 9 00:01:00,927 --> 00:01:03,452 Here in a few bloody hours, 10 00:01:03,596 --> 00:01:07,430 thousands of young men sacrificed their lives. 11 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,686 Now to the shadowy waters off Midway comes Robert Ballard, 12 00:01:30,824 --> 00:01:33,384 the man who discovered the Titanic. 13 00:01:37,297 --> 00:01:39,561 Ballard's quest is to fiind the American 14 00:01:39,699 --> 00:01:43,465 and Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk in the battle, 15 00:01:43,603 --> 00:01:45,969 including the U.S.S. Yorktown. 16 00:01:47,907 --> 00:01:51,274 But the ships are lost more than three miles down 17 00:01:51,411 --> 00:01:54,710 unseen, untouched on the ocean floor 18 00:01:57,350 --> 00:02:00,581 the fiinal resting place of many young men. 19 00:02:11,064 --> 00:02:14,124 A story of martyrs and heroes, 20 00:02:16,102 --> 00:02:18,195 admirals and airmen... 21 00:02:18,771 --> 00:02:22,639 of secret codes and lucky hunches 22 00:02:22,775 --> 00:02:27,769 of lost chances and the painful cost of victory 23 00:02:28,515 --> 00:02:34,044 all in one monumental day. Tragedy and Triumph. 24 00:02:34,721 --> 00:02:37,315 The battle for Midway. 25 00:03:22,569 --> 00:03:23,627 Midway. 26 00:03:29,909 --> 00:03:34,869 It is hard to ignore the archaeology of war in this place. 27 00:03:46,059 --> 00:03:49,392 Nearly a lifetime after the clash at Midway, 28 00:03:49,529 --> 00:03:54,023 four former soldiers walk the island's white coral sands. 29 00:03:54,567 --> 00:03:58,560 Two Americans, Bill Surgi and Harry Ferrier, 30 00:03:58,705 --> 00:04:04,234 and two Japanese, Haruo Yoshino and Yuji Akamatsu 31 00:04:04,377 --> 00:04:06,641 all veterans of the battle. 32 00:04:12,285 --> 00:04:16,517 The last time the veterans were here, they came as enemies. 33 00:04:16,656 --> 00:04:22,617 Now, as respectful comrades, they will explore the meaning of their ordeal. 34 00:04:23,329 --> 00:04:28,995 I met the two Japanese gentlemen, aviators, and, so I've made my peace. 35 00:04:29,135 --> 00:04:31,501 And I have no animosity toward them. 36 00:04:31,638 --> 00:04:35,836 They were warriors, like we were, just doing their job. 37 00:04:46,719 --> 00:04:47,777 Welcome aboard. 38 00:04:49,422 --> 00:04:50,719 All in their 70s now, 39 00:04:50,857 --> 00:04:53,553 the survivors have traveled thousands of miles 40 00:04:53,693 --> 00:04:56,389 to join undersea explorer Robert Ballard 41 00:04:56,529 --> 00:05:00,761 in the search for the five aircraft carriers lost at Midway. 42 00:05:05,271 --> 00:05:08,707 Ballard's quest, sponsored by National Geographic, 43 00:05:08,841 --> 00:05:12,140 is to fiind Bill Surgi's ship, the Yorktown, 44 00:05:12,278 --> 00:05:15,338 and Yuji and Haruo's carrier, the Kaga 45 00:05:16,182 --> 00:05:19,276 It will be the voyage of a lifetime for the vets. 46 00:05:53,353 --> 00:05:55,446 May, 1942. 47 00:06:06,199 --> 00:06:08,929 The United States and Japan are at war 48 00:06:13,740 --> 00:06:16,641 It is five months since the devastating sneak attack 49 00:06:16,776 --> 00:06:19,609 on the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 50 00:06:37,663 --> 00:06:42,862 Now Japan is poised for total domination of East Asia and the Pacific. 51 00:06:47,273 --> 00:06:48,331 Pearl Harbor. 52 00:06:49,108 --> 00:06:52,271 In a dingy basement beneath command headquarters, 53 00:06:52,412 --> 00:06:55,904 Navy code breakers have pulled off the greatest intelligence coup 54 00:06:56,048 --> 00:06:57,572 of the Pacific War. 55 00:06:57,717 --> 00:07:00,242 Out of coded enemy radio transmissions 56 00:07:00,386 --> 00:07:05,517 they have teased out the secret plans for the next major Japanese attack 57 00:07:07,059 --> 00:07:09,527 A huge Japanese task force is preparing 58 00:07:09,662 --> 00:07:13,996 to strike a crippling blow against the already weakened U.S. Navy. 59 00:07:14,434 --> 00:07:20,134 It will happen at Midway, as early as June 3rdless than a month away. 60 00:07:21,674 --> 00:07:25,007 Yet now the U.S. Knows what's coming. 61 00:07:25,311 --> 00:07:30,749 And the Americans will lie in wait, hoping to ambush the Japanese fleet. 62 00:07:36,689 --> 00:07:38,953 Day one of the Ballard expedition. 63 00:07:39,992 --> 00:07:42,187 To begin their exploration of the past 64 00:07:42,328 --> 00:07:46,196 the veterans travel with Ballard 180 miles from Midway 65 00:07:46,332 --> 00:07:49,893 to the place where Ballard thinks the Yorktown went down. 66 00:07:52,705 --> 00:07:55,640 There is no X to mark this spot, 67 00:07:55,775 --> 00:07:59,336 just blue water and the occasional gooney bird. 68 00:08:04,217 --> 00:08:08,620 But below the waves, Ballard believes he will discover history. 69 00:08:10,223 --> 00:08:14,922 For here, young men came to fight and to die. 70 00:08:18,531 --> 00:08:20,761 I mean, to be at the very spot, you know, 71 00:08:20,900 --> 00:08:22,663 this is where the battle took place. 72 00:08:22,802 --> 00:08:26,761 This is like going to Gettysburg, this is like going to Bull Run, 73 00:08:26,906 --> 00:08:29,602 this is like going to Normandy. 74 00:08:29,742 --> 00:08:33,473 This is where a great chapter in human history, 75 00:08:33,613 --> 00:08:36,673 tragic in many ways, was played out on the stage, 76 00:08:36,816 --> 00:08:38,716 and we're on the stage right now. 77 00:08:42,855 --> 00:08:45,085 While Ballard studies the terrain, 78 00:08:45,224 --> 00:08:50,355 the veterans explore their own landscape of memory and loss. 79 00:08:53,232 --> 00:08:55,462 This is what I looked like back then. 80 00:09:05,778 --> 00:09:09,407 This was taken before the Pearl Harbor attack 81 00:09:19,792 --> 00:09:22,022 I think this is what saved my life. 82 00:09:24,330 --> 00:09:26,958 This is the hat I was wearing at the time. 83 00:09:32,238 --> 00:09:36,038 Very brave, very brave. 84 00:09:38,911 --> 00:09:40,742 A little older, a little wiser. 85 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:50,484 Pearl Harbor, 1942. 86 00:09:51,691 --> 00:09:57,596 Yorktown sailor Bill Surgi hears they are headed for a place called Midway. 87 00:09:57,730 --> 00:10:01,188 The word Midway was a mystique, 88 00:10:01,334 --> 00:10:06,897 mystery, an awesome word to banter about. 89 00:10:07,039 --> 00:10:10,736 We were not fully aware of what actually was going on there. 90 00:10:10,876 --> 00:10:14,471 So all we knew was that we needed help at Midway. 91 00:10:19,251 --> 00:10:21,685 Yorktown will rendezvous with her sister ships, 92 00:10:21,821 --> 00:10:23,254 Hornet and Enterprise, 93 00:10:23,389 --> 00:10:28,224 at a point approximately 325 miles northeast of Midway. 94 00:10:28,995 --> 00:10:32,897 Their mission: To ambush the Japanese. 95 00:10:37,470 --> 00:10:40,633 At the same time, four japanese carriers, 96 00:10:40,773 --> 00:10:43,674 Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu, 97 00:10:43,809 --> 00:10:46,369 under the command of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, 98 00:10:46,512 --> 00:10:48,537 are steaming for Midway. 99 00:10:50,216 --> 00:10:54,550 These are the same machines and men who bombed Pearl Harbor. 100 00:11:03,229 --> 00:11:07,029 The Japanese know nothing of the American trap awaiting them. 101 00:11:10,503 --> 00:11:13,768 Many of the American airmen and sailors headed toward Midway 102 00:11:13,906 --> 00:11:16,500 have never faced enemy fire 103 00:11:16,642 --> 00:11:20,840 including Yorktown radioman and gunner Lloyd Childers. 104 00:11:21,347 --> 00:11:25,010 Childers was attached to a torpedo bomber squadron. 105 00:11:25,685 --> 00:11:30,179 He can't forget an intelligence briefiing he attended with other crews. 106 00:11:30,322 --> 00:11:35,851 They said, if a 15plane squadron of TBD's makes torpedo runs... 107 00:11:35,995 --> 00:11:41,058 ...against a determined Japanese fleet 108 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,033 if three of you get through to deliver torpedoes, 109 00:11:44,170 --> 00:11:47,139 you will have considered that you have accomplished your mission. 110 00:11:48,941 --> 00:11:52,308 I immediately became alarmed, 111 00:11:52,445 --> 00:11:55,312 because the odds were not good. 112 00:11:58,117 --> 00:12:03,521 Lloyd Childers will soon fiind out just how bad the odds really are. 113 00:12:14,633 --> 00:12:17,101 It's the seventh day of the expedition 114 00:12:18,671 --> 00:12:22,801 Time to part the waves and take the first glimpse of the bottom 115 00:12:22,942 --> 00:12:25,137 three miles down. 116 00:12:26,178 --> 00:12:31,206 Ballard's eyes will be the U.S. Navy's remotely operated robot explorer 117 00:12:31,350 --> 00:12:33,147 called ATV 118 00:12:33,285 --> 00:12:36,311 equipped with lights and video cameras 119 00:12:43,763 --> 00:12:47,995 Will Ballard fiinally, after years of planning and enormous effort, 120 00:12:48,134 --> 00:12:51,331 be able to fiind the downed Yorktown? 121 00:12:59,612 --> 00:13:02,638 For the veterans, the ATV is a time machine 122 00:13:02,782 --> 00:13:07,378 carrying them back to a distant world of fury and fire. 123 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:11,422 All stations, deploying the vehicle into the water now. 124 00:13:23,369 --> 00:13:27,806 I remember walking up and down those decks and 56 years after the fact, 125 00:13:27,940 --> 00:13:29,840 I'm gonna look at those decks again. 126 00:13:31,644 --> 00:13:34,704 And it'll bring back memories. 127 00:13:44,089 --> 00:13:49,721 The ATV has now traveled over two miles and almost five decades. 128 00:13:52,865 --> 00:13:55,629 The ocean bottom is getting close. 129 00:13:57,503 --> 00:14:01,132 Twelve thousand feet The depth Ballard found Titanic. 130 00:14:01,273 --> 00:14:04,572 All stations... past the onefivethousand feet. 131 00:14:04,710 --> 00:14:06,871 Passing onefive thousand feet, aye. 132 00:14:10,449 --> 00:14:15,409 Approaching 16,000, the depth Ballard found the battleship Bismarck 133 00:14:17,156 --> 00:14:21,684 Nearing the sea floor, deeper than Ballard has ever gone before. 134 00:14:40,012 --> 00:14:42,913 Under the relentless pressure of the ocean depths, 135 00:14:43,048 --> 00:14:45,983 key equipment on the ATV has imploded. 136 00:14:46,118 --> 00:14:48,279 It has collapsed into itself, 137 00:14:48,420 --> 00:14:51,981 reducing metal and glass to rubble. 138 00:14:53,859 --> 00:15:00,264 The ATV is crippled. Just how badly no one yet knows. 139 00:15:02,268 --> 00:15:06,568 It's a disaster that may mean the end of the expedition. 140 00:15:14,546 --> 00:15:16,878 June 3, 1942 141 00:15:18,284 --> 00:15:21,378 The white sands of Midway are now heavily defended 142 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:24,455 by hundreds of young American servicemen 143 00:15:28,460 --> 00:15:32,191 and dozens of bombers, fighters, torpedo planes. 144 00:15:35,401 --> 00:15:39,269 The battle is less than 24 hours away. 145 00:15:42,841 --> 00:15:47,574 Among those waiting is a small sixplane torpedo bomber squadron. 146 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:51,881 Both the planes and their young crews are untested in combat, 147 00:15:52,017 --> 00:15:55,475 but the young pilots are eager to face the Japanese. 148 00:15:57,890 --> 00:16:02,759 Seventeenyearold Harry Ferrier served as a radioman and gunner. 149 00:16:03,595 --> 00:16:07,861 You don't think about the fact that people do get killed, you know, 150 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:13,336 as a teenager, which I really was. You think you're immortal. 151 00:16:13,472 --> 00:16:15,906 And we had what we thought were the best airplanes 152 00:16:16,041 --> 00:16:16,905 that the Navy had come up with 153 00:16:17,042 --> 00:16:22,947 and we would really give the Japanese the hell, 154 00:16:23,082 --> 00:16:26,347 I guess you'd say, and come back 155 00:16:26,485 --> 00:16:28,749 And it didn't work that way. 156 00:16:31,023 --> 00:16:36,427 Dawn, June 4th nearly six months to the day since Pearl Harbor. 157 00:16:39,698 --> 00:16:41,723 Two hundredforty miles from Midway, 158 00:16:41,867 --> 00:16:45,394 Admiral Chuichi Nagumo readies his attack 159 00:16:46,772 --> 00:16:50,833 He is supremely confident of the fiinal outcome 160 00:16:51,844 --> 00:16:57,305 and utterly unaware of the American aircraft carriers slowly closing in. 161 00:17:11,330 --> 00:17:16,666 My spirits were, well, up to then, we had won ever battle we fought, 162 00:17:16,802 --> 00:17:18,997 so we thought we would win again. 163 00:17:21,340 --> 00:17:23,570 Now is the moment of attack 164 00:17:39,191 --> 00:17:40,283 Six a.m. 165 00:17:43,195 --> 00:17:45,390 With Japanese aircraft bearing down, 166 00:17:45,531 --> 00:17:48,932 the American planes on Midway scramble into the air. 167 00:17:56,275 --> 00:17:59,642 With them is the torpedo bomber carrying Harry Ferrier, 168 00:17:59,778 --> 00:18:02,542 Bert Earnest and the third member of their crew, 169 00:18:02,681 --> 00:18:05,013 Jay Manning, the turret gunner. 170 00:18:05,150 --> 00:18:07,812 They're going after the Japanese carriers. 171 00:18:11,924 --> 00:18:15,223 Earnest, Ferrier and Manning clear the island just minutes 172 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:17,692 before enemy planes hit Midway. 173 00:18:26,338 --> 00:18:29,705 The Americans fight back with everything they've got. 174 00:19:40,979 --> 00:19:45,416 Less than half an hour later, the first Japanese strike is over. 175 00:19:45,551 --> 00:19:51,285 But if the enemy aircraft carriers are not stopped soon, Midway may fall. 176 00:19:58,530 --> 00:20:02,296 Sixfifty a.m. June 4, 1942. 177 00:20:02,434 --> 00:20:05,369 A hundredandsixty miles from a battletorn Midway, 178 00:20:05,504 --> 00:20:07,734 the torpedo bomber carrying Ferrier, 179 00:20:07,873 --> 00:20:11,570 Earnest and Manning head straight at the Japanese fleet. 180 00:20:13,679 --> 00:20:15,010 As they near the carriers, 181 00:20:15,147 --> 00:20:18,275 the Japanese fighter attack becomes more intense. 182 00:20:19,051 --> 00:20:21,076 And tragically effective. 183 00:20:22,221 --> 00:20:24,246 But very shortly, Manning had stopped firing, 184 00:20:24,389 --> 00:20:27,586 and so I looked back over my shoulder to see what was going on, 185 00:20:27,726 --> 00:20:32,823 and he was just hanging down in his harness in the turret 186 00:20:32,965 --> 00:20:36,731 and obviously had been killed. 187 00:20:47,412 --> 00:20:52,611 And then, really, the next thing I remember was waking up 188 00:20:52,751 --> 00:20:56,517 with my head hanging down and blood pouring off my head. 189 00:20:58,423 --> 00:20:59,913 Their plane is shot up. 190 00:21:00,058 --> 00:21:02,891 Their controls and compass out of commission. 191 00:21:03,028 --> 00:21:06,020 Their comrade Jay Manning is dead. 192 00:21:06,765 --> 00:21:09,165 But Ferrier and Earnest are still alive 193 00:21:09,301 --> 00:21:12,270 and now they have to fiind their way home. 194 00:21:15,407 --> 00:21:17,034 I decided to climb up above the clouds 195 00:21:17,175 --> 00:21:20,042 and see if I could see anything, and I did. 196 00:21:20,178 --> 00:21:21,304 And when I got up there, 197 00:21:21,446 --> 00:21:26,349 I saw a great big plume of smoke over to the east. 198 00:21:26,485 --> 00:21:30,182 ...and realized that probably was Midway, which had been attacked. 199 00:21:39,264 --> 00:21:44,759 They manage to land safely in a plane that is literally shot to pieces. 200 00:21:50,208 --> 00:21:52,642 After getting patched up at a field hospital, 201 00:21:52,778 --> 00:21:57,477 Harry Ferrier waits for the return of the other five planes in his squadron. 202 00:21:58,216 --> 00:22:00,480 He waits in vain. 203 00:22:03,522 --> 00:22:07,390 But it was afternoon, you know, early afternoon, 204 00:22:07,526 --> 00:22:13,431 and it became obvious that our airplane was the only one that had come back 205 00:22:13,565 --> 00:22:14,998 that the other five did not, 206 00:22:15,133 --> 00:22:18,330 and we eventually just had to accept the fact that they 207 00:22:18,470 --> 00:22:20,404 all five were shot down. 208 00:22:34,953 --> 00:22:37,183 It is day eight of the expedition. 209 00:22:38,056 --> 00:22:41,787 Ballard's robot explorer, the ATV, is still crippled. 210 00:22:44,062 --> 00:22:48,089 And the Navy doesn't know if they can get it and fully running again. 211 00:22:50,836 --> 00:22:55,296 They need more time, the one thing Ballard can't spare. 212 00:22:57,275 --> 00:23:00,438 Fortunately, the sonar is still going strong. 213 00:23:00,579 --> 00:23:01,978 Instead of just waiting, 214 00:23:02,114 --> 00:23:04,878 Ballard leaves the phantom Yorktown behind 215 00:23:05,016 --> 00:23:10,010 to look for Japanese carriers at a site 170 miles away. 216 00:23:13,158 --> 00:23:17,754 The Japanese veterans have not seen these waters in 56 years 217 00:23:17,896 --> 00:23:20,922 not since the death of their ship, the Kaga. 218 00:23:21,333 --> 00:23:24,928 Yet here, time is erased. 219 00:23:29,408 --> 00:23:33,504 My heart is racing in anticipation of seeing the ship. 220 00:23:34,446 --> 00:23:37,904 I keep remembering the image of the sinking carrier. 221 00:23:38,583 --> 00:23:40,813 I hope it is found soon. 222 00:23:53,765 --> 00:23:56,199 After all the frustration and delay, 223 00:23:56,334 --> 00:23:59,667 the ATV makes it to the bottom of the sea. 224 00:24:25,964 --> 00:24:30,264 But all too soon, Ballard realizes the bottom is barren 225 00:24:33,738 --> 00:24:38,334 no carrier, no planes just rocks and mud. 226 00:24:44,716 --> 00:24:48,675 No excuses. I just didn't fiind it. Period. 227 00:24:52,524 --> 00:24:54,788 Round one. 228 00:24:55,794 --> 00:24:57,125 To Kaga. 229 00:24:58,730 --> 00:25:00,220 I'll get to Yorktown. 230 00:25:00,732 --> 00:25:02,962 I really want the Yorktown. 231 00:25:03,568 --> 00:25:05,229 That's where I'm headed. 232 00:25:07,172 --> 00:25:10,403 But one unspoken question is inescapable. 233 00:25:11,710 --> 00:25:14,804 If the sonar was wrong about fiinding the Kaga, 234 00:25:14,946 --> 00:25:18,848 is it also wrong about the location of the Yorktown? 235 00:25:26,825 --> 00:25:29,794 Seven a.m. The waters off Midway. 236 00:25:31,530 --> 00:25:33,555 Japanese commander, Admiral Nagumo, 237 00:25:33,698 --> 00:25:37,259 is still completely in the dark about the trap awaiting him. 238 00:25:43,275 --> 00:25:44,765 Eighttwenty a.m. 239 00:25:45,610 --> 00:25:48,875 Admiral Nagumo receives truly startling news. 240 00:25:49,781 --> 00:25:54,013 His scout planes sight the one thing they never expected to see 241 00:25:54,152 --> 00:25:56,120 an American carrier. 242 00:25:56,955 --> 00:26:01,483 Nagumo is shocked to discover he has a real fight on his hands. 243 00:26:02,260 --> 00:26:05,024 Now he must decide on his next step. 244 00:26:05,530 --> 00:26:08,693 Should he launch a limited strike immediately? 245 00:26:09,367 --> 00:26:13,599 Or regroup, refuel, and rearm all of his forces 246 00:26:13,738 --> 00:26:18,141 and then obliterate what he believes to be the one American carrier? 247 00:26:20,045 --> 00:26:22,206 He decides to wait. 248 00:26:22,347 --> 00:26:26,340 It is a decision that will change the course of the entire war. 249 00:26:29,888 --> 00:26:30,980 While Nagumo waits, 250 00:26:31,122 --> 00:26:34,785 the American pilots wing their way towards his carriers. 251 00:26:36,728 --> 00:26:37,752 Yet very quickly, 252 00:26:37,896 --> 00:26:41,662 many of the American squadrons get separated from each other. 253 00:26:47,105 --> 00:26:50,472 Most of the torpedo bombers fiind themselves on their own 254 00:26:50,609 --> 00:26:55,603 without fighter protection from the fast, lethal Japanese Zeros. 255 00:26:58,416 --> 00:27:01,715 One after another, the young torpedo bomber crews attack 256 00:27:01,853 --> 00:27:07,189 just as they have been taught stead on low, straight at the target 257 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,952 directly into murderous enemy fire. 258 00:27:13,431 --> 00:27:17,697 And one after another, they are blown out of the sky. 259 00:27:40,492 --> 00:27:46,624 The Enterprise torpedo squadron 18 out of 28 men killed. 260 00:27:50,235 --> 00:27:54,365 The Yorktown's 21 out of 24. 261 00:27:57,075 --> 00:28:02,775 And of the 30 from Hornet's torpedo squad, only one man makes it back 262 00:28:07,452 --> 00:28:12,185 Yet not a single torpedo makes a single successful strike 263 00:28:12,323 --> 00:28:15,087 against any of the Japanese carriers. 264 00:28:22,133 --> 00:28:27,730 Despite all the sacrifice, the Americans are losing the battle. 265 00:28:35,146 --> 00:28:38,206 America is facing defeat at Midway. 266 00:28:40,585 --> 00:28:42,746 And the enemy commander, Admiral Nagumo, 267 00:28:42,887 --> 00:28:47,483 is set to launch a massive attack against the American carriers. 268 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:50,894 Nagumo's crews work feverishly 269 00:28:51,029 --> 00:28:53,725 to get nearly a hundred warplanes into the air. 270 00:28:54,499 --> 00:28:55,932 Abandoning all caution, 271 00:28:56,067 --> 00:28:59,696 they leave explosives and gasoline strewn everywhere. 272 00:29:01,139 --> 00:29:04,233 The decks are a disaster waiting to happen. 273 00:29:05,610 --> 00:29:08,807 Less than a hundred miles away, 19,000 feet up, 274 00:29:08,947 --> 00:29:12,246 is the last American hope, the dive bombers. 275 00:29:12,383 --> 00:29:15,318 But none of them can fiind the enemy. 276 00:29:15,954 --> 00:29:19,151 The Japanese have taken a 90 degree turn northward 277 00:29:19,290 --> 00:29:21,349 to engage the U.S. Ships. 278 00:29:22,260 --> 00:29:25,718 Then Enterprise's dive bombing squadron plays a hunch 279 00:29:25,864 --> 00:29:27,627 and changes course. 280 00:29:29,234 --> 00:29:32,965 And in their sights appear the four Japanese carriers 281 00:29:33,104 --> 00:29:36,870 Kaga, Akagi, Soryu and Hiryu. 282 00:29:38,042 --> 00:29:42,069 And there is not a Japanese fighter anywhere to be seen. 283 00:29:44,048 --> 00:29:47,108 The enemy fighters are still too busy defending their carriers 284 00:29:47,252 --> 00:29:50,847 against the last of the American torpedo planes 285 00:29:51,322 --> 00:29:54,314 to stop the dive bombers high above. 286 00:29:56,961 --> 00:30:00,795 It's a sight Lt. Dick Best has been longing for. 287 00:30:02,467 --> 00:30:07,427 I was amazed to see that a, the deck was a bright yellow, 288 00:30:07,572 --> 00:30:09,335 because our decks had been stained 289 00:30:09,474 --> 00:30:12,307 a north Pacific blue ever since the start of the war. 290 00:30:12,443 --> 00:30:15,901 And in addition to the deck being a bright yellow, 291 00:30:16,047 --> 00:30:19,073 the big rising sun up forward of the elevator, 292 00:30:19,217 --> 00:30:21,811 it was glowing red, like a tremendous advertisement. 293 00:30:21,953 --> 00:30:25,081 Here we are, we are the Japanese Navy. 294 00:30:25,657 --> 00:30:28,148 He dives toward the rising sun. 295 00:30:46,711 --> 00:30:50,511 And releases his bomb as does the rest of his group 296 00:30:50,648 --> 00:30:53,879 onto Japanese decks now crowded with torpedoes, 297 00:30:54,018 --> 00:30:57,715 bombs, gasoline, planesand men. 298 00:30:59,791 --> 00:31:01,918 She was a mass of flames from bow to stern, 299 00:31:02,060 --> 00:31:04,392 with tremendous eruptions coming up 300 00:31:04,529 --> 00:31:07,259 every four to five seconds as a bomb must've hit. 301 00:31:10,435 --> 00:31:14,030 Japanese survivors float hour after hour in the water, 302 00:31:14,172 --> 00:31:19,371 in silence with the dead and dying as Kaga burns. 303 00:31:19,510 --> 00:31:22,843 Most are rescued by other Japanese ships 304 00:31:22,981 --> 00:31:24,209 but not all. 305 00:31:26,651 --> 00:31:29,950 We were fortunate to have been rescued so quickly. 306 00:31:31,389 --> 00:31:35,655 But there were still men left swimming and they committed suicide. 307 00:31:46,504 --> 00:31:51,942 In five short minutes Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu have been devastated 308 00:31:52,076 --> 00:31:56,945 scores of planes destroyed, many hundreds of young men killed. 309 00:31:58,283 --> 00:32:02,151 Many of the Japanese airmen are caught in the sky above their burning ships 310 00:32:02,287 --> 00:32:04,016 with nowhere to land. 311 00:32:07,859 --> 00:32:13,161 In just five minutes, the cream of the Japanese Navy is fimished. 312 00:32:15,733 --> 00:32:18,531 But the battle is far from over. 313 00:32:31,249 --> 00:32:35,015 At first, I would like to read a letter to my friends here. 314 00:32:38,856 --> 00:32:41,848 Ballard's search for the Japanese carriers has failed. 315 00:32:41,993 --> 00:32:46,054 And the two Japanese veterans will soon leave the Laney Chouest. 316 00:32:51,302 --> 00:32:55,466 But the voyage to Midway allows Haruo and Yuji the opportunity 317 00:32:55,606 --> 00:32:59,201 to bid their fallen comrades one last farewell 318 00:32:59,344 --> 00:33:03,280 and to remember all the young men who died in battle. 319 00:33:08,753 --> 00:33:13,986 We believe that the innumerable spirits who sacrificed their lives for their 320 00:33:14,125 --> 00:33:17,993 country should be forever honored for their distinguished service. 321 00:33:18,930 --> 00:33:22,297 We are honored to have fought alongside you in battle. 322 00:33:22,867 --> 00:33:26,462 Veterans from both countries have overcome past animosities 323 00:33:26,604 --> 00:33:29,095 and have pledged a renewed peace. 324 00:33:30,074 --> 00:33:33,305 Spirits, please rest in peace. 325 00:33:54,198 --> 00:33:58,601 Yes, I was thinking, as Haruo and Yuji were paying homage to their shipmates, 326 00:33:58,736 --> 00:34:03,935 that I, too, lost 45 shipmates at this very spot. 327 00:34:04,075 --> 00:34:07,602 As all the planes in my squadron, except the one I was in, 328 00:34:07,745 --> 00:34:10,839 were actually shot down here among the Japanese battle force, 329 00:34:10,982 --> 00:34:15,078 so this was a very solemn moment for me as well as for them. 330 00:34:39,410 --> 00:34:41,435 Eleven a.m. On June 4th. 331 00:34:42,447 --> 00:34:46,816 Admiral Nagumo regroups his surviving planes on the deck of Hiryu 332 00:34:46,951 --> 00:34:50,284 the only carrier to escape American bombs. 333 00:34:54,425 --> 00:34:57,690 There is still a chance to emerge victorious. 334 00:34:58,196 --> 00:34:59,891 The Japanese pilots take off, 335 00:35:00,031 --> 00:35:02,932 heading for the closest American carrier 336 00:35:03,768 --> 00:35:05,065 Yorktown. 337 00:35:40,071 --> 00:35:45,475 The enemy dive bombers score three hits killing more than a dozen men. 338 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:52,513 But, unlike the Japanese carriers, there are no bombs, 339 00:35:52,650 --> 00:35:56,746 torpedoes or fuel on deck waiting to explode. 340 00:35:57,822 --> 00:36:02,691 For all the smoke and fire, Yorktown is still afloat. 341 00:36:09,867 --> 00:36:13,803 Two hours later, as the Yorktown continues to patch herself up, 342 00:36:13,938 --> 00:36:17,305 a second wave of enemy planes target the carrier. 343 00:36:29,287 --> 00:36:33,485 Yorktown's fighter pilots scramble eager to engage the enemy. 344 00:36:44,802 --> 00:36:48,568 Down goes one Japanese torpedo bomber after another. 345 00:37:09,393 --> 00:37:11,793 But still the enemy comes. 346 00:37:21,606 --> 00:37:24,268 I look out there and here's this torpedo coming, 347 00:37:24,408 --> 00:37:28,344 and it looks like a brand new nickel just come shining through the water, 348 00:37:28,479 --> 00:37:33,075 right beneath us. And I said, Oh, my God, this is it. 349 00:37:33,217 --> 00:37:34,809 And it goes off. 350 00:37:35,953 --> 00:37:38,513 One American carrier is down. 351 00:37:38,656 --> 00:37:43,218 The Japanese carrier Hiryu must be stoppedfast. 352 00:37:50,801 --> 00:37:54,999 When they fiind it, Lt. Dick Best is right there, once again. 353 00:38:13,591 --> 00:38:17,152 And I did look back when I was far enough out to the west to turn, 354 00:38:17,295 --> 00:38:18,091 and she was aflame, 355 00:38:18,229 --> 00:38:20,720 and burning just the way the ones in the morning had been. 356 00:38:26,504 --> 00:38:28,995 I felt myself to be the Lord of creation at the time, 357 00:38:29,140 --> 00:38:30,664 the sense of accomplishment, 358 00:38:30,808 --> 00:38:35,245 and fulfiillment of revenge is so sweet that 359 00:38:35,379 --> 00:38:40,749 I don't think I ever felt anything as intensely again in all my life. 360 00:38:43,220 --> 00:38:47,020 Caught in the inferno on the Hiryu is Taisuke Maruyama, 361 00:38:47,158 --> 00:38:51,117 one of the torpedo pilots who had just crippled the Yorktown. 362 00:38:56,934 --> 00:38:59,402 The maintenance crews and emergency crews who had tried 363 00:38:59,537 --> 00:39:03,268 to extinguish the fire were injured by the explosion, 364 00:39:03,407 --> 00:39:05,534 and many lost their legs and hands. 365 00:39:12,149 --> 00:39:16,779 The military doctor was operating on them on the deck soaked in blood. 366 00:39:22,426 --> 00:39:27,056 The troops were burnt black dead bodies strewn across the deck 367 00:39:36,907 --> 00:39:44,905 Hiryu, Soryu, Akagi, Kaga. 368 00:39:45,549 --> 00:39:49,952 By the end of the day, all four Japanese carriers have been destroyed. 369 00:39:51,055 --> 00:39:57,119 Hundreds of young men dead, maimed, burned, or left to drown. 370 00:40:05,436 --> 00:40:06,596 Twentyfour hours later, 371 00:40:06,737 --> 00:40:10,605 the injured Yorktown is still afloat and headed home 372 00:40:10,741 --> 00:40:13,266 escorted by the destroyer Hammann. 373 00:40:15,980 --> 00:40:20,314 What nobody sees is the enemy submarine below the surface 374 00:40:21,252 --> 00:40:24,221 with two sitting ducks in her sights. 375 00:40:35,466 --> 00:40:40,631 Japanese torpedoes split the Hammann in two, taking 81 men to the bottom. 376 00:40:41,205 --> 00:40:43,673 And mortally wound Yorktown. 377 00:40:46,210 --> 00:40:51,671 For nearly a day, the carrier lingers on the surface, refusing to die. 378 00:40:54,051 --> 00:40:58,112 Yorktown Radioman Lloyd Childers is in sick bay, on a nearby ship, 379 00:40:58,255 --> 00:41:00,849 with serious wounds to both legs. 380 00:41:02,226 --> 00:41:04,751 He watches his carrier go down. 381 00:41:05,729 --> 00:41:13,693 This huge ship slowly sank below the water, the waves, 382 00:41:13,838 --> 00:41:18,400 until it disappeared and we watched it until it was completely gone. 383 00:41:22,713 --> 00:41:24,578 It's very brutal business. 384 00:41:26,417 --> 00:41:30,410 My other thoughts were that it's a terrible thing 385 00:41:30,554 --> 00:41:36,652 that so called civilized nations could do things like that to each other, 386 00:41:38,262 --> 00:41:41,356 convincing me that we're not really civilized yet. 387 00:41:46,337 --> 00:41:48,805 It is Day 19 of the expedition. 388 00:41:50,941 --> 00:41:52,738 It has been hours since Robert Ballard 389 00:41:52,877 --> 00:41:56,836 sent a robot vehicle down nearly 17,000 feet 390 00:41:56,981 --> 00:41:59,245 to fiind the USS Yorktown. 391 00:42:03,187 --> 00:42:07,783 And half a century since Bill Surgi has seen his carrier. 392 00:42:10,628 --> 00:42:14,291 Ballard has only a left to fiind the Yorktown. 393 00:42:19,436 --> 00:42:26,365 After six long hours, the ATV fiinally reaches bottom, over three miles deep. 394 00:42:37,021 --> 00:42:38,716 All they see are rocks 395 00:42:38,856 --> 00:42:43,418 that have probably rested here undisturbed for a thousand years. 396 00:42:56,206 --> 00:42:57,833 I wanna keep looking to the left. 397 00:42:59,610 --> 00:43:03,910 Yet within a few moments of touching down, they see something 398 00:43:04,515 --> 00:43:06,710 something that shouldn't be there. 399 00:43:09,053 --> 00:43:12,318 A smooth patch of ground clear of rock 400 00:43:12,456 --> 00:43:15,357 as though something had swept across the bottom. 401 00:43:16,026 --> 00:43:20,019 Something unnatural, something manmade. 402 00:43:22,099 --> 00:43:23,589 They follow the trail. 403 00:43:37,014 --> 00:43:38,641 Bingo, bingo, bingo. 404 00:43:41,085 --> 00:43:43,178 Suddenly a glint 405 00:43:43,687 --> 00:43:47,748 a shiny metallic glint catches the video eye. 406 00:43:48,225 --> 00:43:51,353 Dead ahead, range 150 feet. 407 00:43:52,696 --> 00:43:54,323 Keep it nice and high. 408 00:43:58,869 --> 00:44:01,895 I want him to look down and away. 409 00:44:06,343 --> 00:44:10,746 And now the sonar on the ATV itself is announcing something big 410 00:44:10,881 --> 00:44:13,645 and oddly beautiful dead ahead. 411 00:44:14,618 --> 00:44:15,642 There it is. 412 00:44:15,786 --> 00:44:19,153 Stop, stop, stop, stop. Contact. 413 00:44:25,229 --> 00:44:29,393 It's defimitely Yorktown. There's no question about that. 414 00:44:30,968 --> 00:44:33,528 The Yorktown at last 415 00:44:34,571 --> 00:44:37,802 exactly where Ballard thought it would be. 416 00:44:39,176 --> 00:44:48,050 Hold that, hold that still. Try to hold that. 417 00:44:51,488 --> 00:44:53,615 I'm lookin' up my ready room right now 418 00:44:53,757 --> 00:44:58,660 this under the bridge on the island, on the flight deck 419 00:45:01,965 --> 00:45:08,564 Too much, too much, all the people that did their jobs. 420 00:45:08,706 --> 00:45:10,469 I can see them doin' them now. 421 00:45:13,477 --> 00:45:14,569 Keep coming up. 422 00:45:16,647 --> 00:45:18,274 Oh, Yorktown, you're beautiful. 423 00:45:39,436 --> 00:45:43,372 Okay, now I want to pivot to the right to zeroninezero. 424 00:46:02,726 --> 00:46:08,926 The Yorktown1,100 miles form Hawaii, 3,000 from Japan, 425 00:46:11,435 --> 00:46:14,063 over 3 miles below the surface. 426 00:46:18,108 --> 00:46:23,512 Her 19,000 tons sunk halfway into the mud; her bow crushed. 427 00:46:28,552 --> 00:46:31,817 Yet Yorktown is still intact. 428 00:46:37,394 --> 00:46:38,656 The bridge. 429 00:46:44,902 --> 00:46:46,369 The flight deck 430 00:46:53,610 --> 00:46:55,077 The pilot house. 431 00:47:04,121 --> 00:47:06,589 She is nearly untouched by time, 432 00:47:06,723 --> 00:47:11,683 her guns still pointing skyward, to fend off the fiinal attack 433 00:47:21,271 --> 00:47:23,569 I walked across the deck and I still got it. 434 00:47:26,677 --> 00:47:27,609 Thanks again for fiinding it. 435 00:47:27,744 --> 00:47:28,403 My pleasure. 436 00:47:28,545 --> 00:47:35,041 And on behalf of the crew, I'm glad to be here. 437 00:47:35,185 --> 00:47:36,777 Me too. 438 00:47:38,155 --> 00:47:41,818 That's the boat. I got to see my ready room. 439 00:47:42,926 --> 00:47:46,259 Maybe next time I'll get to see where I got all this banging at. 440 00:47:46,396 --> 00:47:47,454 Well, we'll be back 441 00:47:50,834 --> 00:47:53,803 That's right. It ain't gettin' away now 442 00:47:54,872 --> 00:47:55,896 Thank you. 443 00:47:57,274 --> 00:47:58,502 How does it feel, Bill? 444 00:48:01,211 --> 00:48:04,339 I'm here, they're not. 445 00:48:04,982 --> 00:48:09,043 So I'm representing the crew and I did my job. 446 00:48:28,005 --> 00:48:30,337 June 4th, 1942. 447 00:48:37,247 --> 00:48:42,776 America has won the battle for Midway and stopped Japan cold. 448 00:48:55,632 --> 00:48:59,033 The Japanese Navy would never recover from its losses. 449 00:49:01,438 --> 00:49:04,839 For the Japanese pilots, the defeat at Midway and the death 450 00:49:04,975 --> 00:49:07,466 of their comrades is just the first agony. 451 00:49:07,611 --> 00:49:11,308 They will return home to fiind themselves kept in isolation, 452 00:49:11,448 --> 00:49:12,881 in silence. 453 00:49:13,984 --> 00:49:16,885 They treated us like prisoners of war. 454 00:49:17,020 --> 00:49:18,851 We were shut away from outside contact 455 00:49:18,989 --> 00:49:22,152 since they were afraid we might leak information. 456 00:49:37,174 --> 00:49:42,168 You see the veterans who've come back whether they're Japanese and Americans 457 00:49:42,312 --> 00:49:45,304 And we brought them here to this spot, and it spoke to them. 458 00:49:46,049 --> 00:49:48,108 Every one of them cried. 459 00:49:48,652 --> 00:49:52,418 They didn't laugh. They didn't celebrate. They all cried. 460 00:49:54,257 --> 00:49:57,715 They're hurting. And this is a half a century later. 461 00:49:58,762 --> 00:50:05,497 So it's their story and what they're telling us is, don't do this. 462 00:50:05,635 --> 00:50:09,935 This is not fun. It's not wonderful. 463 00:50:19,750 --> 00:50:22,310 Comrades in arms who sleep in darkness 464 00:50:22,452 --> 00:50:25,910 at the bottom of the ocean for 50 years after the end of the war, 465 00:50:26,523 --> 00:50:28,718 thank you for your sacrifice. 466 00:50:33,363 --> 00:50:40,030 I've brought a tribute, flowers from Japan, chrysanthemums, 467 00:50:40,170 --> 00:50:42,536 which I've placed on your grave. 468 00:50:42,672 --> 00:50:44,367 My heart is full! 469 00:50:48,845 --> 00:50:50,210 Thank you. 470 00:51:00,223 --> 00:51:01,485 It's difficult, 471 00:51:02,826 --> 00:51:06,694 you think how many people gave up their lives that day 472 00:51:06,830 --> 00:51:10,266 and they call George Gay and they call 473 00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:13,130 eventually Bert and I, you know, you're heroes, 474 00:51:13,270 --> 00:51:14,294 but you know, I've said 475 00:51:14,438 --> 00:51:17,066 and I'll always go to my grave 476 00:51:17,207 --> 00:51:20,608 believing that the real heroes died that day. 477 00:51:22,179 --> 00:51:24,306 They earned a victory.