By October 1942, four American carriers had been sunk in the Pacific. One was left. USS Enterprise. If she went down, Guadalcanal was finished. The supply lines to Australia — cut. The entire Allied offensive — dead.
On October 26, a wall of Japanese torpedo bombers came straight for her. One pilot with fifty seconds of ammunition was all that stood between Enterprise and the bottom of the ocean.
But the real story starts the day before. With an admiral's order that should never have been given. And ends two days later — with a pen stroke that erased what should have been the highest honor in the United States military.
The man who saved America's last carrier never got the medal he earned. The reason why will make your blood boil.
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On October 26, a wall of Japanese torpedo bombers came straight for her. One pilot with fifty seconds of ammunition was all that stood between Enterprise and the bottom of the ocean.
But the real story starts the day before. With an admiral's order that should never have been given. And ends two days later — with a pen stroke that erased what should have been the highest honor in the United States military.
The man who saved America's last carrier never got the medal he earned. The reason why will make your blood boil.
Subscribe for forgotten WW2 stories ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@ww2dispatchh
Like if you think this story deserves to be remembered.
Comment below — where are you watching from?
#worldwar2 #ww2 #militaryhistory #ww2stories #ww2dispatch
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LearningTranscript
00:00The fuel gauge was falling.
00:02Lieutenant Stanley Vitassa tapped the glass and got the same answer, nearly empty.
00:07It was 11.35 on the morning of October 26, 1942, and he was climbing through 10,000 feet
00:14above the USS Enterprise while 15 Japanese torpedo bombers closed on the last American
00:20aircraft carrier in the Pacific.
00:2328 years old, 43 combat missions, 7 kills total.
00:28The enemy formation carried enough ordnance to sink Enterprise three times over.
00:33Four months earlier, the United States Navy had five fleet carriers operating in the Pacific.
00:40Lexington went down at Coral Sea in May.
00:42Yorktown sank at Midway in June.
00:45The submarine I-19 torpedoed Wasp off Guadalcanal on September 15.
00:51That morning, Japanese dive bombers had crippled Hornet.
00:54By noon on October 26, Enterprise was the only American flattop still fighting.
01:001,400 miles to the northwest, 23,000 Marines were dug in around Henderson Field on Guadalcanal.
01:08They had been holding that airstrip for 80 days.
01:11Without carrier-based air support, Henderson Field would fall.
01:15Without Henderson Field, Guadalcanal would fall.
01:18Without Guadalcanal, the supply lines between the United States and Australia would be cut.
01:24Enterprise was all that stood between the Imperial Japanese Navy and total control of the South Pacific.
01:31Vichassa's squadron commander had launched him 90 minutes earlier as part of a combat air patrol.
01:36Four Grumman Wildcats, standard defensive screen.
01:40But Admiral Thomas Kincaid had made a catastrophic decision the day before.
01:45On October 25, when a Navy patrol plane reported Japanese carriers 360 miles northwest,
01:53Kincaid ordered Enterprise to launch her entire air group on a search-and-destroy mission.
01:58Enterprise was supposed to be the duty carrier, reserved for defense.
02:03Kincaid sent them anyway.
02:05The strike found nothing.
02:06By the time Vitassa and the other pilots returned to Enterprise,
02:10their Wildcats were running on fumes, and their carriers were sitting targets.
02:15The Japanese knew it.
02:16At dawn on October 26, Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo launched 64 aircraft from his carriers
02:23Shokaku, Zuikaku, and Zuiho.
02:2721 Aichi dive bombers, 20 Nakajima torpedo planes, 23 Mitsubishi Zero fighters.
02:34The first wave hit Hornet at 0910.
02:37Three bombs, two torpedoes, one kamikaze strike.
02:41Hornet's engines died.
02:43Her electrical systems failed.
02:45She went dead in the water eight miles from Enterprise.
02:48That left one carrier to defend.
02:50One carrier to keep Guadalcanal alive.
02:53One carrier to prevent Japan from winning the Pacific War.
02:57The Tassa checked his ammunition counter.
02:58Three hundred rounds remained in his .650 caliber machine guns.
03:03Fifty seconds of continuous fire.
03:05The Japanese were sending everything they had.
03:08If Enterprise went down, there would be no American carriers left between Hawaii and Australia.
03:14No fleet to support the Marines.
03:16No hope of holding the Solomon Islands.
03:18The entire Allied offensive would collapse.
03:21But Vachasa had done this before.
03:23Five months earlier, flying a Douglas Dauntless dive bomber during the Battle of Coral Sea,
03:28he had shot down three Japanese Zero fighters.
03:31Not in a fighter.
03:32In a bomber.
03:34A Dauntless was 80 miles per hour slower than a Zero.
03:37Less maneuverable.
03:38Armed with two .30 caliber guns facing forward.
03:41He survived that fight by using cross-controlled slips to make his aircraft slide sideways through the air,
03:47forcing the Zeros to miss their deflection shots.
03:49He became the only naval aviator in World War II to earn a Navy cross for both dive bombing and
03:56aerial combat.
03:57What happens next took seven minutes.
03:59Seven minutes that decided whether the United States held the Pacific or lost it.
04:04Please like this video and subscribe.
04:06It helps us bring you more stories that history books left out.
04:10Back to Vachasa.
04:12His radar operator's voice crackled over the radio.
04:15Bogies inbound.
04:17Bearing 3-4-0.
04:19Range 12 miles.
04:21Vachasa pushed his throttle forward and turned toward the contact.
04:24Below him, Enterprise began her evasive maneuvers.
04:28Captain Osborne Hardison threw the 20,000-ton carrier into a hard turn to starboard.
04:33Black smoke poured from her stacks as her engine room pushed for flank speed.
04:37Vachasa spotted them at 10 miles out.
04:40Two Aichi dive bombers.
04:43Vals.
04:44They had already rolled into their attack dives on Hornet.
04:47He snap-rolled his wildcat inverted and pulled toward them.
04:50His guns were loaded.
04:52His fuel was critical.
04:53And in 60 seconds, he would either save the last American carrier in the Pacific or watch the United States
05:00lose the war.
05:01Vachasa closed on the first Val at 400 yards.
05:04The Japanese dive bomber had already released its bomb on Hornet and was pulling out of its dive, gaining speed
05:11as it descended toward the wavetops.
05:13The pilot never saw him.
05:15Vachasa centered the gunsight pipper on the Val's engine cowling and squeezed the trigger.
05:2150 caliber rounds tore through the bomber's thin aluminum skin.
05:24The engine exploded in a spray of oil and metal fragments.
05:28The Val rolled left and hit the ocean at 250 miles per hour.
05:33The second Val was climbing away from Hornet, trying to gain altitude for the return flight to its carrier.
05:40Vachasa pulled lead and fired a two-second burst.
05:43Tracers walked across the Val's right wing route.
05:46The wing folded backward and the bomber tumbled into the sea.
05:50Two down.
05:51Vachasa keyed his radio to report the kills.
05:54Then he saw them.
05:551138, bearing 320, altitude 8,000 feet.
06:0015 Nakajima torpedo bombers in a tight formation, flying in three echelons of five aircraft each.
06:08Cates.
06:09Each one carried a Type 91 aerial torpedo.
06:131800 pounds.
06:15512 pounds of high explosive in the warhead.
06:18A single hit could cripple Enterprise.
06:20Two hits would sink her.
06:23The formation was led by Lieutenant Commander Shigeharu Murata.
06:26Murata had commanded Carrier Division 5's torpedo squadron at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
06:33His Cates had launched from Akagi before dawn that morning and attacked Battleship Row.
06:39Murata personally led the torpedo run that crippled USS West Virginia.
06:43His pilots sank Oklahoma, torpedoed California, put three fish into Nevada.
06:49In ten minutes, Murata's squadron had destroyed or damaged six American battleships.
06:55He was the most experienced torpedo attack commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy.
07:00Now he was seven miles from Enterprise.
07:03Vachasa scanned the sky for his wingman.
07:05Lieutenant Dave Harris appeared off his right wing, climbing hard.
07:09Two Wildcats against 15 torpedo bombers.
07:12The mathematics were simple.
07:15Each Cate carried one torpedo.
07:17Enterprise could survive maybe two hits before losing propulsion.
07:21Three hits would flood her engine rooms.
07:23Four would break her keel.
07:26Fifteen torpedoes meant Enterprise would take at least five or six hits,
07:30even with perfect defensive fire, from the screening destroyers.
07:34Unless Vachasa and Harris stopped them first.
07:37The Cate formation was descending toward their attack altitude.
07:40Standard Japanese doctrine called for torpedo drops at 200 feet above sea level.
07:46The Cates needed to get low and fast.
07:49That meant they were committed to a straight-line approach for the next eight miles.
07:53No evasive maneuvers.
07:54No fancy flying.
07:56Just a race between their torpedoes and American guns.
07:59The Tasa had one advantage.
08:02The Cates were focused on Enterprise.
08:05Their pilots were calculating attack angles, checking torpedo arming switches, watching their altimeters.
08:10They were not watching the sky above them.
08:13He pulled his Wildcat into a steep climb to 13,000 feet.
08:17Harris followed.
08:18The two fighters positioned themselves directly above the Cate formation.
08:22The Japanese torpedo bombers continued their descent.
08:256,000 feet.
08:274,000 feet.
08:292,000 feet.
08:30The lead Cate was five miles from Enterprise.
08:33Torpedo range.
08:34The Tasa rolled inverted and pulled his nose down.
08:38Harris mirrored the maneuver.
08:39The two Wildcats dove toward the Cate formation at 400 miles per hour.
08:44Wind screamed past the cockpit canopy.
08:47The airspeed indicator needle climbed past the red line.
08:51Vatasa's Wildcat shuddered as it approached its maximum dive speed.
08:553,000 feet above the Cates.
08:572,000 feet.
08:581,000 feet.
09:00The lead Cate pilot saw them.
09:02Too late.
09:03Murata's formation tried to tighten up for mutual defensive fire.
09:07The rear gunners swung their 7.7mm machine guns toward the diving Wildcats.
09:12Muzzle flashes sparkled from a dozen gun positions.
09:15Vatasa ignored the tracers.
09:18He centered his gunsight on the nearest Cate and opened fire.
09:21The first Cate disintegrated.
09:24Vatasa's .50 caliber rounds punched through the bomber's fuel tanks and detonated the
09:29torpedo still mounted under the fuselage.
09:31The explosion blew the Cate into three distinct pieces.
09:35The engine section tumbled forward.
09:37The tail broke away and spun toward the ocean.
09:40The center fuselage, engulfed in flames, hung in the air for half a second before dropping
09:45like a stone.
09:46Harris fired on a Cate to Vatasa's left.
09:49The bomber's right wing separated at the root.
09:52The Cate rolled inverted and went down.
09:54The formation scattered.
09:56Murata's tight echelon broke apart as the remaining 13 Cates tried to evade the diving Wildcats.
10:03Three bombers broke left.
10:05Four went right.
10:06The rest pushed their noses down and accelerated toward the wavetops, trying to get below the
10:11American fighters and set up their torpedo runs.
10:14Vatasa pulled out of his dive at 8,000 feet.
10:17Harris had continued down through the formation and was now tangling with two Cates at 4,000
10:22feet.
10:23The Japanese bombers had split into multiple groups.
10:26No coherent formation remained.
10:29That was good.
10:30Scattered bombers could not coordinate their torpedo drops.
10:34Enterprise would have time to maneuver between attacks.
10:36But scattered bombers were harder to kill.
10:39Vatasa spotted three Cates climbing into a cloud bank at 7,000 feet.
10:44He turned toward them and pushed his throttle to maximum power.
10:48The Wildcats' Pratt & Whitney engine roared.
10:50He entered the cloud 30 seconds behind the Japanese bombers.
10:54White mists surrounded the cockpit.
10:56Visibility dropped to zero.
10:59Vatasa held his heading in altitude.
11:01Instruments only.
11:03No visual reference.
11:04He broke out of the cloud at 7,500 feet.
11:07The three Cates were 200 yards ahead, climbing in a loose V formation.
11:12They had not seen him enter the cloud.
11:14The rear gunners were scanning the sky below, watching for threats from underneath.
11:19Vatasa closed to 150 yards.
11:22He selected the left-hand Cate and fired a three-second burst.
11:25The rounds hit the bomber's fuselage just behind the cockpit.
11:29The Cate's wing tanks ignited.
11:31Orange flames wrapped around the aircraft.
11:34The pilot tried to roll away, but the controls were gone.
11:36The Cate nosed over and fell.
11:40The other two Cates broke formation.
11:42One dove left.
11:43The other pulled right and climbed.
11:46Vatasa followed the climbing bomber.
11:48The Japanese pilot was good.
11:50He threw his Cate into a climbing spiral, forcing Vatasa to lead the turn.
11:54The rear gunner opened fire.
11:567.7-millimeter rounds snapped past Vatasa's canopy.
12:01Vatasa pulled inside the Cate's turn and triggered a short burst.
12:0550 caliber tracers arced across the sky and converged on the bomber's tail section.
12:10The rudder disintegrated.
12:11The Cate snap-rolled left and went into an uncontrolled spin.
12:16Four Cates down.
12:1711 remaining.
12:19Vatasa checked his fuel.
12:21Eight minutes at combat power.
12:23Maybe ten if he throttled back.
12:25His ammunition counter showed 140 rounds remaining.
12:2923 seconds of fire.
12:31He had to make every burst count.
12:33Below him, Enterprise was cutting white foam across the dark blue Pacific.
12:38Captain Hardison had the carrier in a continuous series of evasive turns.
12:43Port.
12:44Starboard.
12:45Port again.
12:47The Destroyer Smith stayed close on Enterprise's port quarter,
12:50adding her 5-inch guns to the defensive barrage.
12:53Black puffs of anti-aircraft fire dotted the sky at 2,000 feet.
12:58Three Cates broke through the Destroyer screen.
13:01They were low now.
13:02150 feet above the water.
13:05Attack position.
13:06Vatasa rolled his wildcat inverted and dove.
13:10The Cates were committed to their torpedo runs.
13:13Straight and level.
13:14No evasive maneuvers possible.
13:17Their torpedoes needed a stable launch platform or the gyroscopes would tumble
13:21and the fish would porpoise into the ocean.
13:24Vatasa pulled behind the trailing Cate at 300 yards.
13:28He fired.
13:29The Cate's engine exploded.
13:31The bomber cartwheeled across the water and broke apart.
13:34The second Cate released its torpedo.
13:37The weapon hit the water, ran true for 50 yards,
13:40then the gyroscope stabilized and the torpedo turned toward Enterprise.
13:45Vatasa shifted his aim to the Cate and fired.
13:48Nothing happened.
13:49He squeezed the trigger again.
13:51His guns were empty.
13:53One Cate remained ahead of him.
13:55The pilot was lining up his final approach.
13:58Enterprise was two miles away.
14:00One torpedo.
14:01One carrier.
14:03And Vatasa had no ammunition left.
14:06Vatasa stayed on the Cate's tail.
14:08No ammunition.
14:09No options.
14:10He pushed his throttle forward and closed the distance.
14:14100 yards.
14:1550 yards.
14:16The Japanese rear gunner opened fire.
14:19Vatasa ignored the tracers and kept coming.
14:2225 yards.
14:23The Wildcat's propeller was 10 feet from the Cate's tail.
14:26The Japanese pilot broke.
14:29He released his torpedo early and yanked his bomber into a hard climbing turn to the right.
14:34The torpedo hit the water at the wrong angle.
14:37It porpoised once, twice, then dove straight down and disappeared.
14:43The Cate climbed the way toward the northwest.
14:46Vatasa let him go.
14:47Enterprise healed hard to port.
14:49The torpedo that had been launched earlier crossed her wake 60 yards astern.
14:54Captain Hardison had turned inside the weapon's radius.
14:57The torpedo ran out of fuel and sank 400 yards past the carrier.
15:02Vatasa checked his fuel gauge.
15:04Four minutes remaining.
15:05He turned toward Enterprise and started his approach.
15:09His hands were shaking.
15:11Adrenaline crash.
15:12He had been in combat for seven minutes.
15:15It felt like an hour.
15:16The landing signal officer brought him aboard at 11.52.
15:21Vatasa's Wildcat caught the number three wire and jerked to a stop.
15:25Deck crew ran to his aircraft and chocked the wheels.
15:28He shut down the engine and climbed out of the cockpit.
15:31His flight suit was soaked with sweat, despite the 60-degree temperature.
15:36Commander James Flatley met him on the flight deck.
15:39Flatley commanded Fighting Squadron 10.
15:41He had flown with Vatasa at Coral Sea and knew what the young pilot could do.
15:46Flatley's first question was direct.
15:48How many did you get?
15:50Vatasa counted on his fingers.
15:52Two Vals attacking Hornet.
15:54Five Kates from the torpedo formation.
15:56Seven total.
15:57Maybe an eighth damaged, but he could not confirm it went down.
16:01Flatley's expression did not change, but his eyes widened slightly.
16:06Seven confirmed kills in one mission.
16:08That made Vatasa an ace in a day.
16:10More than that.
16:11It made him one of the highest-scoring American pilots in a single engagement anywhere in the Pacific War.
16:17The other pilots from the Combat Air Patrol were landing now.
16:20Harris confirmed two Kate kills.
16:23The other Wildcats had splashed three more Japanese bombers between them.
16:27Out of 15 Kates in Murata's formation, only four had escaped.
16:31None had hit Enterprise with torpedoes.
16:34The carrier was undamaged and still making 30 knots.
16:37Flatley walked Vatasa to the ready room.
16:40The debriefing took 20 minutes.
16:42Vatasa described each engagement in detail.
16:45Times, altitudes, aircraft types, confirmation from other pilots where available.
16:51The intelligence officer recorded everything in the mission log.
16:54That night, Flatley wrote his after-action report.
16:58He included a formal recommendation that Lt. Stanley Vatasa be awarded the Medal of Honor.
17:04The citation detailed Vatasa's seven confirmed kills, his role in breaking up the torpedo attack,
17:09and his direct contribution to saving Enterprise.
17:13Flatley noted that Vatasa had previously earned two Navy crosses at Coral Sea,
17:18one for dive-bombing the carrier Shoho, one for shooting down three Zero fighters while flying a dauntless bomber.
17:25No other naval aviator had earned Navy crosses for both bombing and aerial combat.
17:31The Medal of Honor recommendation was justified by comparison to previous awards.
17:36Five months earlier, Lt. Edward O'Hare had received the Medal of Honor
17:41for shooting down five Japanese bombers while defending the carrier Lexington.
17:45O'Hare's five kills had prevented damage to his carrier.
17:50Vatasa's seven kills had saved the only American carrier still operating in the Pacific.
17:56The mathematics were clear.
17:58If five kills defending Lexington merited the Medal of Honor,
18:02then seven kills defending the last American carrier in theater certainly qualified.
18:07Flatley sent the recommendation up the chain of command.
18:10It went to Enterprise's captain, then to the Task Force Air Operations officer,
18:16then to Rear Admiral Thomas Kincaid, Commander Task Force 61.
18:21Kincaid received the recommendation on October 28th.
18:25He read it twice.
18:26Then he picked up his pen and made a decision that would haunt the United States Navy for the next
18:3270 years.
18:34Kincaid downgraded the Medal of Honor recommendation to a Navy cross.
18:37His justification was brief.
18:40The citation, he wrote, did not meet the standard for extraordinary heroism beyond the call of duty.
18:46Seven kills in defense of a carrier was certainly commendable,
18:49but it did not rise to the level of the nation's highest military decoration.
18:54The decision was political.
18:5524 hours before VITASA saved Enterprise,
18:59Kincaid had made the worst tactical decision of his career.
19:02On October 25th, a Navy PBY Catalina patrol plane reported Japanese carriers 360 miles northwest of Task Force 61.
19:12The contact was at the extreme edge of carrier aircraft range.
19:17Admiral William Halsey, commanding South Pacific forces from his headquarters at Numea,
19:21sent an immediate order, strike, repeat, strike.
19:26Kincaid had two carriers, Enterprise and Hornet.
19:30Standard Doctrine called for one carrier to launch the strike,
19:33while the other remained on station as the duty carrier,
19:36maintaining defensive combat air patrols and ready to recover damaged aircraft.
19:41Hornet was designated the attacking carrier.
19:44Enterprise was supposed to stay defensive.
19:46Kincaid ignored the Doctrine.
19:48At 1,400 on October 25th, he ordered Enterprise to launch 12 dauntless dive bombers on a long-range search
19:56mission.
19:5730 minutes later, he sent the rest of Enterprise's air group after them.
20:01Fighters, torpedo bombers, everything.
20:04Enterprise was left with a skeleton combat air patrol of four wildcats.
20:09The strike found nothing.
20:10The Japanese carriers had moved.
20:13By the time Enterprise's aircraft returned, they were critically low on fuel.
20:17Some landed with less than 10 gallons remaining.
20:20The crews were exhausted.
20:22The aircraft needed maintenance.
20:23And Enterprise had no reserve strike capability for the next morning.
20:27That night, Vetasa and the other pilots knew what was coming.
20:31They had flown a wild goose chase.
20:33They had burned fuel and flight hours searching empty ocean,
20:37while the Japanese fleet repositioned for a Dawn attack.
20:40On the morning of October 26th, when Nagumo launched his strike,
20:45Enterprise had exactly four wildcats airborne,
20:47four fighters to defend the last American carrier in the Pacific.
20:51If Vetasa had not been one of those four pilots,
20:54Enterprise would have gone to the bottom.
20:56The Kate torpedo bombers would have put at least three fish into her hull.
21:00Without Enterprise, the Marines on Guadalcanal would have lost air support.
21:04Henderson Field would have fallen.
21:06The entire Solomon Islands campaign would have collapsed.
21:10The United States would have been forced back to a defensive line,
21:13running from Hawaii to Samoa to Fiji,
21:16ceding control of the South Pacific to Japan.
21:19Kincaid's decision on October 25th nearly cost America the war.
21:24Vetasa's seven kills on October 26th saved it.
21:28A Medal of Honor for Vetasa would have drawn attention to that sequence of events.
21:32Reporters would have asked questions.
21:35Why was Enterprise left with only four fighters?
21:37Who ordered the wild goose chase?
21:39Why was the duty carrier sent on a strike mission against standard doctrine?
21:44The answers would have pointed directly at Kincaid.
21:47So Kincaid buried the Medal of Honor recommendation.
21:50He downgraded Vetasa to a third Navy cross,
21:54and he did not stop there.
21:56Commander Flatley had also been recommended for the Medal of Honor,
21:59based on his leadership during the battle.
22:02Kincaid downgraded that recommendation too.
22:04Distinguished flying cross.
22:07Admiral Halsey later upgraded Flatley to a Navy cross,
22:10but the damage was done.
22:12The pattern was clear.
22:14Kincaid was protecting his reputation
22:15by denying recognition to the men who had saved his carriers
22:19from his own mistakes.
22:21By late 1942, morale in Air Group 10 was collapsing.
22:26Pilots knew their commander was expendable in Kincaid's eyes.
22:29The day before Santa Cruz, Kincaid had relieved five senior officers
22:33for objecting to the wild goose chase order.
22:36Among them, the Air Group commander,
22:39the bombing squadron leader,
22:40and the torpedo squadron executive officer.
22:43All gone.
22:44Replaced.
22:45Punished for being right.
22:47Now the men who had saved Enterprise
22:49were being denied their medals for the same reason.
22:52Political protection.
22:53The Tasa never spoke publicly about the Medal of Honor,
22:57but 70 years later,
22:59historians would call it one of the most unjust award decisions
23:02in United States Navy history.
23:04Enterprise survived Santa Cruz,
23:06but Hornet did not.
23:07Japanese destroyers found the burning carrier
23:10late on October 26th
23:11and put four more torpedoes into her hull.
23:14She sank at 0-135 on October 27th.
23:17That left Enterprise as the only operational American aircraft carrier
23:22in the entire Pacific theater.
23:24Saratoga was still under repair in Pearl Harbor
23:26from torpedo damage sustained in August.
23:29The new Essex-class carriers would not arrive until mid-1943.
23:34For the next four months,
23:36Enterprise carried the entire weight of American naval air power
23:39in the South Pacific.
23:40Every mission.
23:42Every strike.
23:43Every combat air patrol.
23:45One carrier.
23:46One air group.
23:48One chance to hold Guadalcanal.
23:50Vachasa flew through it all.
23:52November brought the naval battle of Guadalcanal.
23:55Japanese battleships Hiei and Kirishima
23:58tried to bombard Henderson Field into rubble.
24:01American cruisers and destroyers
24:03stopped them in two brutal night actions.
24:06Enterprise aircraft hunted the damaged Hiei the next morning
24:09and finished her with bombs and torpedoes.
24:12On November 13th, Vachasa was flying combat air patrol
24:16when a lookout spotted a Kawanishi flying boat
24:18shadowing the task force.
24:20The Mavis was a long-range reconnaissance aircraft.
24:23Four engines.
24:25Eleven-man crew.
24:26Heavily armed with five 20-millimeter cannons
24:29and four 7.7-millimeter machine guns,
24:32Vachasa and three other Wildcats
24:34intercepted the flying boat at 8,000 feet.
24:37They made multiple firing passes.
24:39The Mavis fought back for six minutes
24:41before its fuel tanks exploded.
24:43All four pilots shared the kill.
24:46Vachasa received credit for .25 of a victory.
24:49That brought his final tally to 10.25 confirmed kills,
24:53one probable, one damaged.
24:55He was a double ace,
24:57one of the top-scoring naval aviators in the Pacific War,
25:00the only pilot to earn Navy crosses
25:02for both dive-bombing and aerial combat,
25:05the only dive-bomber pilot to shoot down enemy fighters,
25:09the only American who had saved a carrier twice,
25:12once by sinking the enemy carrier Shoho at Coral Sea,
25:16once by destroying seven aircraft at Santa Cruz.
25:19In May 1943, the Navy pulled Vachasa off Enterprise
25:24and sent him to Naval Air Station Atlantic City,
25:27flight instructor duty.
25:28He would spend the rest of World War II
25:31teaching new pilots how to survive combat.
25:33He never flew another combat mission.
25:36The decision raised questions.
25:39Vachasa was 28 years old, experienced, skilled.
25:43The Navy desperately needed fighter pilots
25:45as the carrier fleet expanded.
25:48New Essex-class carriers were joining the fleet every month.
25:51Each one needed experienced aviators
25:54to lead their air groups.
25:55Instead, the Navy benched one of its best pilots
25:59and assigned him to train replacements on the East Coast.
26:02Some historians believe Kinkade's influence
26:05extended beyond the Medal of Honor denial.
26:07Keeping Vachasa away from reporters
26:10and away from the front lines
26:11meant keeping the Santa Cruz story quiet.
26:14A combat pilot could talk to journalists.
26:17An instructor at Atlantic City could not.
26:20Vachasa stayed in the Navy after the war.
26:23He served as Airboss aboard USS Essex
26:25during the Korean War from 1951 to 1953.
26:30Airboss was the officer responsible
26:32for managing all flight operations on a carrier.
26:35Launching aircraft, landing aircraft,
26:38coordinating the deck crews.
26:39It was one of the most demanding jobs in naval aviation.
26:44Vachasa ran Essex's flight deck
26:46through two years of combat operations
26:47off the Korean coast.
26:49He continued through staff assignments
26:51and command positions.
26:52By 1969, he was commanding officer
26:55of USS Constellation,
26:57a supercarrier operating off Vietnam.
26:59He retired as a captain on July 1st, 1970.
27:0428 years of service,
27:06four Navy crosses,
27:07zero Medal of Honor.
27:09Decades passed.
27:10The men who had fought at Santa Cruz grew old.
27:13Kinkade died in 1972.
27:16Flatley died in 1988.
27:18The official records remained unchanged.
27:20Vachasa's Medal of Honor recommendation
27:22stayed buried in the archives.
27:24In 2012, a group of historians and veterans
27:28launched a campaign to correct the injustice.
27:30They gathered the after-action reports.
27:33The pilot debriefings.
27:34The witness statements.
27:36They built a case that Vachasa's seven kills
27:39at Santa Cruz met every criterion
27:41for the Medal of Honor.
27:42The Navy reviewed the evidence
27:44and made its decision.
27:45The Navy denied the request.
27:48Again.
27:49The official explanation cited procedural requirements.
27:52Medal of Honor recommendations,
27:54the review board stated,
27:56must be submitted within three years of the action
27:58for which the award is recommended.
28:00The Santa Cruz engagement occurred in 1942.
28:03The upgrade request came in 2012.
28:06Seventy years too late.
28:08The time limit had expired.
28:10That was the official reason.
28:12The real reason ran deeper.
28:14Approving a Medal of Honor for Vachasa in 2012
28:17would require the Navy to acknowledge
28:19that the award should have been granted in 1942.
28:23That acknowledgement would raise questions
28:25about why it was denied.
28:26Those questions would lead back to Kinkade.
28:29Back to the wild goose chase.
28:30Back to the command failures
28:32that nearly lost Enterprise and the Pacific War.
28:35Even 70 years later,
28:36the Navy chose institutional reputation
28:39over individual recognition.
28:41The comparison to other Medal of Honor recipients
28:44made the injustice stark.
28:46Lieutenant Edward O'Hare received the Medal of Honor
28:48for shooting down five Japanese bombers
28:51while defending USS Lexington
28:53on February 20, 1942.
28:56O'Hare's action was heroic.
28:58His five kills prevented damage to his carrier.
29:00But Lexington was one of four American carriers
29:03operating in the Pacific at that time.
29:06Lexington sank three months later at Coral Sea.
29:09Vatasa shot down seven aircraft
29:11while defending Enterprise on October 26, 1942.
29:16Enterprise was the only American carrier
29:18left in the Pacific.
29:20If Enterprise had been sunk,
29:22the entire Guadalcanal campaign would have collapsed.
29:24The strategic stakes were incomparably higher.
29:27Five kills defending one of four carriers
29:30equaled Medal of Honor.
29:32Seven kills defending the last carrier
29:34equaled Navy Cross.
29:36The mathematics did not make sense
29:38unless politics explained the difference.
29:40Other Medal of Honor recipients in World War II
29:42had achieved less under lower stakes.
29:45Commander David McCampbell received the Medal of Honor
29:47for shooting down nine Japanese aircraft
29:49in a single mission on October 24, 1944.
29:54McCampbell's action was extraordinary,
29:55but by October 1944,
29:58the United States had dozens of carriers in the Pacific.
30:01The Essex-class production line
30:03was delivering new flattops every month.
30:05Losing one carrier would not lose the war.
30:08In October 1942,
30:10losing Enterprise would have lost everything.
30:13The denial crushed the veterans
30:15who had fought at Santa Cruz.
30:16They knew what Vatasa had done.
30:19They knew what it meant.
30:20They also knew the Navy would never admit the truth.
30:2270 years of institutional momentum
30:25could not be reversed
30:26by after-action reports and witness statements.
30:29Vatasa himself remained quiet about the controversy.
30:33He rarely discussed Santa Cruz in public.
30:35When historians asked about the Medal of Honor,
30:38he deflected.
30:39He had done his job, he said.
30:41He had protected his carrier.
30:42The rest did not matter.
30:44On January 23, 2013,
30:48Stanley Vatasa died at his home in California.
30:51He was 98 years old.
30:52He never received the Medal of Honor.
30:55The upgrade campaign died with him,
30:58but his legacy remained.
30:59He was still the only World War II carrier pilot
31:03to earn Navy crosses
31:04for both dive bombing and aerial combat.
31:07Still the only dive bomber pilot
31:10to shoot down enemy fighters in a dogfight.
31:12Still the pilot who saved Enterprise twice.
31:16Once by helping sink Shoho.
31:18Once by destroying seven aircraft in seven minutes.
31:22His 10.25 victories
31:24placed him among the top naval aviators
31:27of the Pacific War.
31:28His tactical skill,
31:30demonstrated by shooting down three zeros
31:32in a dauntless bomber,
31:33became a case study in defensive flying
31:35at the Navy Fighter Weapons School.
31:37His seven kills at Santa Cruz
31:39set a single mission record
31:41that only a handful of American pilots ever matched.
31:44More than statistics,
31:46Vatasa represented something
31:47the Navy tried to bury.
31:48He proved that one man
31:50in the right place
31:51at the right time
31:52with the right skills
31:53could change the course of a war.
31:55Enterprise survived
31:56because Vatasa was in the air that morning.
31:58Guadalcanal held
31:59because Enterprise survived.
32:01The Pacific offensive continued
32:03because Guadalcanal held.
32:04Everything that followed,
32:06from the Solomon Islands
32:07to the Philippines
32:08to Okinawa,
32:09happened because Stanley Vatasa
32:11destroyed seven Japanese aircraft
32:12on October 26, 1942.
32:16The Navy denied his Medal of Honor twice.
32:18History remembers anyway.
32:20This story is not just about one pilot
32:22shooting down seven aircraft.
32:24It is about the gap
32:25between what we promise our warriors
32:27and what we deliver.
32:29Stanley Vatasa did everything
32:31the United States Navy asked of him.
32:33He flew obsolete aircraft
32:34against superior enemies.
32:36He shot down fighters in a bomber.
32:38He saved carriers
32:40under impossible odds.
32:42He earned four Navy crosses
32:43through actions
32:44that other pilots
32:45receive Medals of Honor
32:46for performing
32:47under easier circumstances.
32:50The Navy rewarded him
32:51with silence.
32:53That silence teaches us
32:55something important
32:55about institutions
32:56and individuals.
32:58When organizations make mistakes,
33:00they protect themselves first.
33:03Kincaid's wild goose chase
33:05nearly lost the Pacific War.
33:07Admitting that failure
33:08would have damaged his career
33:10and embarrassed the Navy.
33:11So the institution
33:13chose to bury the truth.
33:15Vatasa became collateral damage
33:17in a cover-up
33:18that lasted 70 years.
33:20But the story also teaches us
33:22about resilience.
33:24Vatasa never complained publicly.
33:26He never wrote bitter memoirs
33:28or gave angry interviews.
33:30He flew his missions,
33:31trained his students,
33:33commanded his ships,
33:34and retired with dignity.
33:35The Medal of Honor
33:37would have been justice.
33:38Not receiving it
33:39did not diminish
33:40what he accomplished.
33:42Enterprise survived the war.
33:44She earned 20 Battlestars,
33:45more than any other
33:47United States warship
33:48in World War II.
33:49She fought at Midway,
33:51Guadalcanal,
33:52the Philippine Sea,
33:53Leyte Gulf,
33:54and Okinawa.
33:56By August 1945,
33:58she had steamed
33:59190,000 miles
34:00in combat operations
34:01and launched 95,000 sorties
34:04against Japanese targets.
34:06Her aircraft sank 71 enemy ships
34:08and destroyed 911 enemy aircraft.
34:12But Enterprise would not have survived
34:14to fight those battles
34:15if Vatasa had not been in the air
34:17on October 26, 1942.
34:20After the war,
34:21the Navy tried to save Enterprise
34:23as a museum ship.
34:24The effort failed.
34:26In 1958,
34:27she was sold for scrap
34:28and broken up
34:29at a New Jersey shipyard.
34:31The most decorated ship
34:33in United States Navy history
34:34ended as razor blades
34:36and rebar.
34:38Guadalcanal held.
34:40The Marines who dug in
34:41around Henderson Field
34:42kept fighting
34:43through November and December.
34:45Japanese reinforcement attempts
34:47failed.
34:47On February 9, 1943,
34:51the last Japanese forces
34:52evacuated the island.
34:54The United States
34:55controlled the Southern Solomons.
34:57The supply lines
34:58to Australia remained open.
35:00The offensive continued north.
35:03Everything the United States
35:04achieved in the Pacific War
35:06depended on
35:07holding Guadalcanal.
35:09Holding Guadalcanal
35:10depended on
35:11keeping Enterprise operational.
35:13Keeping Enterprise operational
35:15depended on stopping
35:1615 Kate torpedo bombers
35:18on the morning of October 26th.
35:21Stopping those torpedo bombers
35:23depended on
35:24Lieutenant Stanley Vetassa.
35:26One man.
35:27Seven kills.
35:29Seven minutes.
35:31The entire trajectory
35:33of the Pacific War.
35:34The Navy denied his medal twice.
35:37But you can do something
35:39they never did.
35:40You can make sure
35:41this story reaches
35:42the people it was meant for.
35:43Hit that like button.
35:45Not for the algorithm.
35:46For Vetassa.
35:47For every American pilot
35:49who flew on fumes
35:50and fought outnumbered
35:51and came home to a handshake
35:53instead of the medal
35:54they earned.
35:55Every like pushes this story
35:57further out there.
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36:00We dig through
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36:03and Navy archives
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