The Battle of Midway Nothing distinguished the dawn of June 2, 1942, from countless other dawns that had fallen over tiny Midway atoll in the North Pacific. Nothing, that is, except the tension of the men waiting for the enemy to make their move. On Midway's two main islands, Sand and Eastern, 3,632 United States Navy and Marine Corps personnel, along with a few Army Air Force aircrews, stood at the battle stations in or near fighters, bombers, torpedo planes, and sea planes, waiting for the Japanese attack they had been waiting for weeks. The carrier battle of Midway, one of the decisive naval battles in history, well-documented but, the role played by the Midway garrison, which manned