On YouTube’s “Memoirs of WWII” channel, they’ve published a video of Yorktown crewman Roger Spooner’s account of abandoning the ship during the Battle of Midway. There are inconsistencies in his story against what is known to have happened during the battle (he mentions a Japanese plane crashing into the ship, but there’s no record of that); regardless, it’s worth a watch and very compelling.
USS Yorktown (CV-5)
The History and Models
My Dad WF Roberts went thru basic and was aboard the CV5 and also the Battleship BB48 West Virginia with Roger Spooner.
Sadly he passed away 2 years ago.
His story and my Dad’s are very close to what I’d heard all my life. The airplane that crashed into their ship was when they were aboard the Wee Virginia. War is hell!
And Roger and my Dad lived thru some of the worst of it! Both of the ships they were assigned to were a part of some of the most decisive sea battles. At 95 years old it’s understandable Roger may have mixed up his ship stories. It was all horrific and God Bless them all! Our Family stayed close to Roger, even after our Dad’s passing in 97. And we were greatly saddened by Roger’s death at 99, as he was still very active and still held a CDL driving his own 18 wheeler! They truly were the Greatest Generation.!!