Get started. Good morning. Welcome to the navy memorial, our mis and celebrate the men and women of the sea services. Past, present and future, and to educate the American Public about your service. So its actually a tremendous honor for us to be here, and on a day like today, we use the term sea services. Were all in it together. And i think these gentlemen right here represent the idea of being all in it together. I want to say one thing about why im honored. And why were honored to be here today. And the opportunity you all have today. When i looked at the program here. And i look at words like trailblazers, legends. These are in the agenda. The last ace. Leadership saving lives, the greatest generation. The medal of honor. Why we fought valor, witness to history. And right here, the turn of the tide. It is an honor for us to be here, i hope you all really get a lot out of the next couple days, as was just mentioned, this is literally an opportunity of a lifetime, that we have in th
Memorial, great partners. My thing to kick things off with all the students with us this weekend, i really encourage you to take all of this in from where we start with veterans of the battle of midway 75 years ago through 45 years of American Military history. This is our past and your future and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Make the most of it. Id like to welcome admiral frank thorpe to say a few words of welcome before we get started. Good morning. Welcome to the navy memorial. As you all know, our mission here is to honor, recognize and celebrate the men and women of the sea services, past, present and future. And to educate the American Public about your service. Its actually a tremendous honor for us to be here. On a day like today we use the term sea services. Were all in it together. I think these gentleman right here represent the idea of being all in it together. I want to say one thing why were honored and the opportunity you have today. When i look at words lik
I want to say one thing why were honored and the opportunity you have today. When i look at words like trail blazers legends, the last ace, the medal of honor, why we fought, valor, witness to history, and right here, the turn of the tide. It is an honor to be here. I hope you get a lot out the next couple of days, as was just mentioned this is the opportunity of a lifetime that we have to listen to these great americans who set an example and paved a path for us to walk on. Welcome to the navy memorial. I hope you appreciate the hospitality. When i say that, i hope we make it as great as we can be to make your experience as great as it can be in the next two days. I will welcome craig to introduce the next panel. Good morning. My name is craig horn. This morning, we will begin an adventure so when we look back we can see further ahead. Its often been said ignorance of the past can create irresponsibility in the present. Its my pleasure to introduce richard b. Frank, an internationally
I will welcome craig to introduce the next panel. Good morning. My name is craig horn. This morning, we will begin an adventure so when we look back we can see further ahead. Its often been said ignorance of the past can create irresponsibility in the present. Its my pleasure to introduce richard b. Frank, an internationally historian of the Asian Pacific world war. He was consultant for the hbo World War Ii Special on the pacific. In that he wrote, and i quote, the pacific war will inspire a long overdue reawakening of the strategic importance, sheer scale and unsurpassed savagetry of the wars unleashed by japan. The battle of midway was the turning of the tide. Please welcome, mr. Richard b. Frank. [ applause ] thank you very much. Thank you for those kind remarks. Were here in the 75th anniversary of the battle of midway. It is a perennial list of the most important battle for world war ii. Often cited as the single most important naval battle in the United States naval history. Its
U. S. And japanese navies. Leading off is a review of the war in pacific prior to june 1942 then new information about the japanese at the battle. This is live coverage on cspan3. We are pleased and very very proud to be hosting it. I would like to thank our partners that helped put this together. The Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation and world war i and world war ii come mem ri commemoration. We couldnt have done it without you. [ cheers and applause ] now, before we get going i do have housekeeping items to pass along. First of all, turn off or silence your cell phones. Keep your programs. We have something of a limited supply of those and please wear your fwbadges throughout the da. Keep in mind we are on cspan so during the q and a use the microphone deployed here on the square. At this time i would like to bring forward my counter part john pentanjelo who will make some remarks, john. [ applause ] thanks, chris. Good morning and welcome. The Hampton Roads naval hue see yum