ADM Gortney, Steven Glick, Cadet Johnson, Cadet Thatcher, Cadet Morrell, Cadet Suresh, Bill Korach
Adm Gortney, Cadet Thatcher, Bill Korach
by Bill Korach www.thereportcard.org
Admiral Gortney, Steven Glick, Bill Korach
The Battle of Midway Commemorative dinner was attended by 900 uniformed service men and women, veterans, and most importantly the surviving veterans of the Battle of Midway. The location was the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, FL. This year the Second Annual Francesca Stencil Korach Battle of Midway Essay Scholarship awards were given out by Admiral William Gortney, Commander U.S. Fleet Forces. The scholarship was started because so few school history books discuss Midway that some historians consider the greatest Naval battle of WWII. At Midway an American force of 28 ships defeated a Japanese Imperial Navy force three times larger. The essay contest winners came from Chicago, St. Augustine, FL, and Powder Springs, GA. Steven Glick, the senior winner from The University of Chicago Laboratory School, plans to attend Pomona College in California. He plans to join a Navy ROTC unit.
Winning first prize for the Sea Cadet category was Cadet Nolen Johnson of St. Augustine. Cadet Nicole Thatcher, NJROTC of St. Augustine won second prize and Cadet Sara Morrell, NJROTC of Powder Springs, GA won third prize. Cadet Suresh, Sea Cadet of St. Augustine picked up second prize in the Sea Cadet category.
Each winner had an opportunity to interview the Midway veterans, who when they fought, were about the same age as the essay winners. Steven Glick said: “It is really amazing to think that these men were my age, but while I completed by senior year in high school, in 1942, these men were in the thick of the fight.”
Educational standards what they are today, not many schools still teach about Midway, but these fine young men and women learned about it in spades, and won a prize in the process. Who says history doesn’t pay?
Here are the winning essays recited by their authors:
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