As we approached the Japanese task force, I only saw two carriers. Three of us attacked what turned out to be the Akagi. Nobody saw us coming. They didn’t have a gun turned on us. My bomb hit up forward of the bridge. The second bomb, astern, must have been the one that jammed the rudder post because she circled aimlessly until she burned up. The last bomb went through to the hangar deck where they were refueling their whole attack group. Japanese carriers didn’t have any way of shutting off their gas lines. So the number of men it killed must have been extreme.
Well, we went back to [the carrier Enterprise], and I said, “There are three carriers on fire out there.” But 10 to 12 miles to the north I’d seen a fourth carrier, and I said, “We’d better be re-armed and sent out right away.” This time, they saw us coming. Everybody was firing at us. We dropped our bombs and scattered. When I got back to the Enterprise, I landed my plane the wrong way. But it didn’t matter. The Italians say revenge is a dish best eaten cold. Well, it was six months cold. It was revenge for the humiliation of Pearl Harbor.
