COFFEY-WILLIAM

BATTLE  OF  MIDWAY

The Battle of Midway, a naval battle involving three U.S. aircraft carriers began on June 4, 1942.  Although one U.S. carrier was lost the destruction of a significant portion of the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet, and over 300 Japanese planes and seasoned pilots was a loss that Japan was never able to overcome.

William Lawson Coffey Jr. was an Aviation Machinist Mate First Class assigned to Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) aboard the USS HORNET.  Shortly before the Battle of Midway, VT-8 received a number of new Grumman Avenger TBF torpedo planes and Coffee was one of a handful of men in the Navy who had been trained to repair the Navy’s newest torpedo plane.  Six of the TBFs had been sent to Midway Island where Coffey was scheduled to be a gunner in one of the planes.  However, because of his mechanical skills as the only mechanic on Midway qualified to make repairs to the TBF, his superiors thought it was more sensible to have him remain on Midway to work on planes instead of fly in them.  Accordingly, Coffey was replaced by Aviation Ordnanceman Third Class Lyonal J. Orgeron as the gunner and thus Coffee was not in the plane when it attacked the Japanese fleet.  Following the battle only one of the six TBFs was able to return to Midway and the plane on which Coffee had been scheduled to fly was lost. 

Through the chaos of battle, the War Department reported to Coffee’s family that he was missing.  It was not until 19-days later that the mistake was discovered, much to the relief of Coffey’s family.  Coffey survived the remainder of the war and also served during the Korean War.  He retired in 1952 with the rate of Aviation Machinist Mate Chief and died on September 24, 1978.  He was buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California. 

Aboard the USS Yorktown Memorial Museum, anchored at Charleston, South Carolina, there is a plaque containing the names of 16 officers and radio-gunners of VT-8 lost on June 4, 1942, during the Battle of Midway.  The third name down in the left column is that of William Lawson Coffee.  The mistake has not been corrected.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)