On the afternoon of May 4, 1942, pilot Lieutenant Leonard Ewoldt and rear gunner Ray Machalinski strode toward their Navy Devastator torpedo bomber, ready to take off from the deck of the carrier USS Yorktown for the second strike of the day. Their target was several Japanese warships off the small island of Tulagi in the Solomon Island chain. As the catapult released them, they roared into the cloudless, blue expanse. Ray readied his guns. A short time after leaving the carrier, the USS Yorktown was called into battle, leaving its last known position.
On their return, instead of finding the USS Yorktown, the torpedo bomber ran out of gas, and the men were forced to ditch their plane on the ocean, stranding them on a small life raft in the South Pacific. With no water or food, their only survival gear was two pocket knives. When it rained, they were able to raise their faces toward the sky to catch some rainwater in their mouths. While drifting in the ocean, they encountered an enemy ship and were attacked by a shark before they finally landed on the south shore of Guadalcanal Island, known to have had cannibals.
This is just one of many accounts told by brave soldiers who daily placed their lives in danger to win the freedom we enjoy today.
World War II timeline:
September 1, 1939--World War II began with the German invasion of Poland.
December 7, 1941--Pearl Harbor was attacked.
December 8, 1941--The United States declared war on Japan.
December 11, 1941--Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
September 2, 1945--Japan surrendered; World War II ended.
