A MARINE ON MIDWAY - ED FOX'S STORY ©
By Ed Fox, Pfc - 6th Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force

Ed Fox was serving on Midway with the 6th Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, at the time of the Battle of Midway, 4-6 June 1942. His post was a machine-gun bunker on the south-eastern shore of Sand Island, the larger of the two islands situated at the southern end of the Midway Atoll lagoon.

If the United States Pacific Fleet had been destroyed at Midway in accordance with Admiral Yamamoto's plan, the Japanese would have launched amphibious landings from the southern side of Midway Atoll. Ed Fox's bunker would have faced an intense barage from the guns of Japanese warships and would have been directly in the path of crack Japanese assault troops when they stormed ashore to capture the last American-garrisoned base west of Hawaii.

ED FOX - US MARINE -1942

This photograph was taken at the time of Ed Fox's arrival on Midway with the Sixth Defense Battalion in January 1942. He is wearing a World War I model steel helmet. He trained with the .03 caliber 1903 Springfield rifle. During the months immediately following Pearl Harbor, much of the equipment used by American servicemen dated from World War I.

Joining the Marines and Boot Camp

Service with the Sixth Defense Battalion on Midway

The Japanese attack Midway - 4 June 1942

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