Tweedy, Albert William

Battle of Midway

Date of birth:: March 22nd, 1920
Date of death:: June 4th, 1942
Nationality:: American

Biography

Albert William Tweedy, Jr., was born on 22 March 1920 and attended public schools in Winnetka, Illinois, and Hingham, Massachusets, before he enrolled at Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., in the fall of 1938. In the summer of 1939, he completed Marine Corps' Platoon Commander School at Quantico, Virginia, and, at the end of his sophomore year, left college to become a Marine Aviation Cadet. Following flight training at Squantum, Massachusets, and Pensacola, Florida, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps Reserve on 14 October 1941. Assigned to the 2d Marine Aircraft Wing, Fleet Marine Force, he was stationed at San Diego and Hawaii before reporting for duty with Marine Scout-Bomber Squadron (VMSB)-241 at Midway early in 1942. He served as Assistant Flight Officer and Assistant Communications Officer for the squadron before becoming its Communications Officer late in May.

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Navy Cross

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Second Lieutenant
Unit:: U.S. Marine Corps Reserves

Early on the morning of 4 June 1942, Lt. Tweedy took off from Midway in his "Dauntless" Navy dive-bomber (SBD-2). Minutes later, the Battle of Midway commenced as planes from the Japanese carriers pounded the Marine installations on Midway, and outdated American fighter planes based at Midway were bloodily dispatched by the newer and nimbler Japanese Zeros in the opening stages of the battle. On that morning, Lt. Tweedy flew with Major Lofton Henderson's division of VMSB-241. Although stripped of its fighter protection, this division nonetheless attempted a glide-bombing attack on Japanese carrier Hiryu. Despite a fearsome antiaircraft barrage and repeated attacks by the numerically superior enemy fighter planes, Lt. Tweedy dove his aircraft to a perilously low altitude before releasing a bomb over the enemy carrier. Japanese fighters then attacked and splashed his slow-moving bomber, killing Lt. Tweedy. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his extraordinary heroism, cool courage, and conscientious devotion to duty.