John C . Waldron John Charles Waldron ( August 24 , 1900 – June 4 , 1942 ) was a United States Navy aviator who led a squadron of torpedo bomber s in World War II . He and most of his squadron perished in the Battle of Midway . Birth and early life . Waldron was born on August 24 , 1900 at Fort Pierre , South Dakota , son of rancher Charles Westbrook Waldron and Jane Van Metre grandson of lawyer and probate Judge George Prentiss Waldron , and a sixth great nephew of Richard Waldron . He was of colonial New Hampshire families on his father ' s side , and of Oglala Lakota on his mother ' s side . In the midst of his armed forces career he married Adelaide Wentworth and had two daughters . He studied law and was admitted to the bar , but never practiced . Naval aviation training and shore duty . He received an appointment as midshipman from his home state on June 16 , 1920 and graduated with the United States Naval Academy Class of 1924 . Following his initial sea duty in " Seattle " ( CA - 11 ) , Waldron went to Naval Air Station Pensacola , Fla . , where he received his wings in the summer of 1927 . Over the ensuing months , Waldron flew with torpedo squadrons ( VT - 1S and VT - 9S and received his promotion to Lieutenant ( j . g . ) on February 16 , 1928 . He served at the Naval Academy from May 24 to September 13 , 1929 , where he instructed midshipmen in the field of aviation . Then , after duty as an instructor at the NAS Pensacola , between October 1929 and June 1931 , Waldron went to sea again , this time with Scouting Squadron 3B ( VS - 3B ) , based on board " Lexington " ( CV - 2 ) , reporting for duty on July 1 , 1931 . Waldron flew observation aircraft off " Colorado " ( BB - 45 ) , before he joined Patrol Squadron 1B ( VP - 1B ) , Battle Force , for a brief period in late 1936 . Subsequently flying from " Saratoga " ( CV - 3 ) with Fighter Squadron 3 ( VF - 3 ) until the early summer of 1939 , he reported back to NAS , Pensacola , for further instructor ' s duty on June 27 , 1939 . Waldron then served three successive tours of shore duty , all involving flying , at the Naval Proving Ground , Dahlgren , Va . ; the Bureau of Ordnance , Washington , D . C . ; and finally in the 3rd Naval District , where he was appointed naval inspector of ordnance at the plant of Carl L . Norden , Inc . , in New York — makers of the famed Norden bombsight . Detached from that duty in the summer of 1941 , Lt . Comdr . Waldron took command of the newly formed Torpedo Squadron 8 ( VT - 8 ) , part of the embryonic air group being assembled for the new fleet carrier " Hornet " ( CV - 8 ) at Newport News , Virginia . The Pearl Harbor attack , though , meant that his training of his men had to be intensive . At Midway . " Torpedo 8 " did not get a chance to practice its trade , however , until nearly 10 months after it had been commissioned at Norfolk . Too late to take part in the Battle of the Coral Sea , VT - 8 would receive its brutal baptism of fire at the turning point of the Pacific War — the Battle of Midway . In the days preceding that battle , VT - 8 led a relaxed existence on board the carrier as she steamed toward " Point Luck " from Pearl Harbor in the first few days of June 1942 . Finally , on the eve of battle , Commander Waldron called his men together and distributed a mimeographed plan of attack . He concluded by saying that if worst came to worst , he wanted each man to do his utmost to destroy the enemy . " If there is only one plane left to make a final run - in , " he told his men , " I want that man to go in and get a hit . May God be with us all . Good luck , happy landings , and give ' em hell . " The next day , June 4 , the 15 Douglas TBD - 1 Devastator s of VT - 8 launched from " Hornet " ' s flight deck in search of the enemy . Before takeoff , LCDR Waldron had a dispute with the Hornet ' s Commander , Air Group , Stanhope C . Ring , and " Hornet " CO Marc Mitscher about where the Japanese carriers would be found . Despite having a contact report showing the Japanese southwest of " Hornet " , Mitscher and Ring ordered the flight to take a course due west , in the hopes of spotting a possible trailing group of carriers . Waldron argued for a course based on the contact report , but was overruled . Once in the air , Waldron attempted to take control of the " Hornet " strike group by radio . Failing that , he soon split his squadron off and led his unit directly to the Japanese carrier group . Waldron , leading the first carrier attack group to approach the Japanese carriers ( somewhat after 9 : 00AM local time , over an hour before the American dive bombers would arrive ) , was grimly aware of the lack of fighter protection , but true to his plan of attack committed Torpedo 8 to battle . Without fighter escort , his attack bombers vulnerably underpowered and lacking in defensive armament , and forced by the unreliability of their own torpedoes to fly low and slow directly at their targets , all of the Hornet ' s torpedo planes soon fell to the undivided attention of the enemy ' s combat air patrol of Mitsubishi " Zero " fighters . Of the 30 men who set out that morning , only one — Ens . George H . Gay , Jr . , USNR — survived . Their sacrifice , however , had not been in vain . The TBDs had drawn down the fighter cover over the Japanese carriers and forced the ships to maneuver radically , delaying the aircraft rearming operations the Japanese were committed to . After two further , separate attacks by the remaining two attack squadrons over the next hour , the Japanese fighter cover and anti - air coordination had become overly focused on low - level defense , leaving the Japanese carriers completely vulnerable to the late - arriving Douglas SBD Dauntless high - altitude carrier dive bombers from " Yorktown " ( CV - 5 ) and " Enterprise " ( CV - 6 ) . These U . S . planes then successfully dive - bombed and fatally damaged three of the four Japanese carriers , changing the course of the battle . Torpedo 8 earned the Presidential Unit Citation ( US ) ; Lt . Comdr . Waldron received the Navy Cross posthumously , as well as a share of the unit citation . His role was reprised by actor Glenn Corbett in the Hollywood movie Midway . Namesake . The USS " Waldron " ( DD - 699 ) , an " Allen M . Sumner " - class destroyer , was named in his honor . Waldron Field , an outlying training landing strip , at Corpus Christi NAS , was named in his honor . John C . Waldron Bridge ( renamed in his honor in 2002 ) across the Missouri River between Pierre and Fort Pierre , SD .