ADM CHESTER W. NIMITZ
Chester William Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg, Texas, on 24 February 1885. Appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1901 and graduated in 1905, he then spent four years with the Asiatic Fleet. During that time he commanded the small 
gunboat Panay and the destroyer Decatur (DD-5). In 1909-13, after his return to the United States, Lieutenant Nimitz was assigned to submarine duty, gaining a reputation as an expert in the field of undersea warfare. He also earned a Silver Lifesaving Medal for rescuing a sailor who fell overboard. Nimitz was next sent to Germany to study diesel engine technology. He put that knowledge to work during 1913-17 supervising the construction and installation of diesel engines in the oiler Maumee (AO-2) and serving as her Chief Engineer.
After promotion to Lieutenant Commander, Nimitz returned to the Submarine Force. Following a year as Executive Officer of the battleship South Carolina (BB-26), in 1920 he went to Pearl Harbor to build the submarine base there. Next assigned to the Naval War College, his studies of a possible Pacific Ocean war's logistics would become extremely relevant two decades later. In 1923, Commander Nimitz became aide to Commander Battle Force and later to Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet. Later in the decade, he established the NROTC unit at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1929, now holding the rank of Captain, he began two years as Commander, Submarine Division 20, followed by two more years in charge of reserve destroyers at San Diego, California. He then took the heavy cruiser Augusta (CA-31) to the Orient, where, under his command, she was flagship of the Asiatic Fleet in 1933-35. Three years' duty at the Bureau of Navigation in Washington, D.C., ended in 1938 with his promotion to Rear Admiral.
As a flag officer, Nimitz commanded Cruiser Division Two and Battleship Division One until he became Chief of the Bureau of Navigation in June 1939. He held that post during the difficult years leading up to U.S. entry into World War II. In the wake of the destructive 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Nimitz was ordered to take over the Pacific Fleet. With the rank of Admiral, and Fleet Admiral after December 1944, he commanded American forces during their long advance across the Pacific to full victory in August 1945.
Fleet Admiral Nimitz became Chief of Naval Operations in December 1945. On his watch, the Navy endured a massive postwar downsizing and began to find its place in the peacetime national defense establishment. He left office in December 1947, taking residence in California. As a Fleet Admiral, he technically remained on active duty, and in 1949-52, served at the United Nations. Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz died at his home on Yerba Buena Island, California, on 20 February 1966.
The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68), 1975-____, is named in honor of Fleet Admiral Nimitz.
GEORGE GAY
George H. Gay, Jr. was born in Waco, Texas, on 8 March 1917. He entered the Navy in 1941. After completing flight training and receiving his commission in September 1941, Ensign Gay was assigned to Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8). On 4 June 1942, while operating from USS Hornet (CV-8) during the Battle of Midway, his squadron was wiped out while making an unsupported torpedo attack on the Japanese carrier force. Gay was the only survivor of the thirty pilots and radiomen in that attack. While swimming after his plane went down, he observed the dive bombing attack that destroyed three of the four Japanese carriers present.
Ensign Gay was rescued by a seaplane the following day. After recovering from his injuries, he served in Torpedo Squadron Eleven (VT-11) during the Guadalcanal Campaign, and was later a flight instructor. He was also active making public appearances in support of the war effort. Following the end of World War II, he remained in the Naval Reserve into the 1950s and was a pilot with Trans-World Airlines for thirty years. George Gay died on 21 October 1994.
BILL ESDERS
TBD T-2 of Yorktown's VT3 was one of two survivors of twelve launched on June 4, 1942. Manned by CAP Wilhelm G. Esders and radioman R.B. Brazier, ARM2c, the Devastator made it to within 10 miles of home before ditching. Brazier, although terribly wounded, managed to change the coils in the radio receiver that enabled Esders to eventually pick up the carriers homing signal.
After ditching, Esders helped the mortally wounded Brazier into a partially inflated life raft and gave him some water. Brazier died as VB3 SBD's flown by LCDR Max Leslie and LT(jg) Paul Holmberg spotted the downed TBD. The TBD had floatation bags that enabled it to stay afloat until it was sunk by gunfire from USS Hammann, the ship that picked up Esders and the body of Brazier.
JOHN S. THACH
John S. Thach was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on 19 April 1905. After graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1927, he spent two years serving in battleships before entering flight training in 1929. Designated a Naval Aviator early in 1930, he received several flight assignments over the next decade and gained a reputation as an expert in aerial gunnery, test pilot and instructor. During the early 1940s, while commanding Fighting Squadron Three, Thach developed the fighter combat technique that came to be known as the "Thach Weave", a tactic that enabled the generally mediocre performing U.S. fighters of the day to hold their own against the Japanese "Zero".
Lieutenant Commander Thach led "Fighting Three" from USS Lexington (CV-2) in early Pacific actions, and from USS Yorktown (CV-5) during the June 1942 Battle of Midway. After a period of instructing other pilots in combat tactics, Commander Thach became Operations Officer to Vice Admiral John S. McCain's fast carrier task forces, and was present at the Formal Japanese Surrender on 2 September 1945.
Thach served in several air training staff assignments during the later 1940s. He commanded USS Sicily (CVE-118) in action during the Korean War and USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) in 1953-54. Attaining flag rank in 1955, he held a number of important assignments, including command of the antisubmarine development unit Task Group Alpha in 1958-59, with USS Valley Forge (CVS-45) as his flagship. Rising to full Admiral over the next decade, Admiral Thach was Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe, from March 1965 until shortly before his retirement in May 1967. He died on 15 April 1981.
USS Thach (FFG-43) was named in honor of Admiral John S. Thach
HAROLD J. ELLISON
Ensign Harold J. Ellison was born in Buffalo, New York, on 17 January 1917, and attended the Pratt Institute before lack of money forced him to cut short his education. Enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1941, he completed Elimination Base training at Naval Reserve Air Base Floyd Bennett Field, New York, before accepting an appointment as an aviation cadet. During his training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, where instructors noted his "reserved and retiring disposition," he successfully completed the course of instruction and was designated Naval Aviator Number 8991 on 23 September 1941. After completing further training at Naval Air Station Opa Locka, Florida, he received orders to report to Torpedo Squadron (VT) 8 assigned to the new carrier Hornet (CV 8).
On the morning of 4 June 1942, he launched from Hornet flying one of fifteen TBD Devastators of VT-8. He was shot down along with his gunner, Aviation Radioman Third Class George Arthur Field, during the squadron's attack against the Japanese carrier Soryu. All told, there was only one survivor of VT-8 from Hornet, Ensign George H. Gay.
WALLACE J. REID
Wallace J. Reid was born on 10 September 1922, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but grew up in Nevada and Missouri. Following in the footsteps of his older brother Earl, he enlisted in the Marine Corps on 6 August 1940. Eventually assigned to Midway Atoll, he was stationed there when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. During the Battle of Midway, Private First Class Reid served as a gunner in the SBD-2 Dauntless dive-bomber flown by First Lieutenant Daniel Iverson, Jr. Along with other members of Marine Scout Bombing Squadron (VMSB) 241, they flew a strike against approaching Japanese carriers on the morning of 4 June 1942. Wounded on this mission, during which his aircraft was hit over 200 times by enemy fire, Reid nevertheless logged two additional combat flights during the battle, receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions. Later, while flying from Guadalcanal, he received the Silver Star and Air Medal with two Gold Stars. During a later tour of duty in the Pacific, he received a Gold Star in lieu of a second Distinguished Flying Cross and five additional awards of the Air Medal.
Following the war, Reid entered Officer Candidate School, and was commissioned a second lieutenant. Among the first contingent of Marines to deply to Korea, he was killed during fighting in the Pusan Perimeter on 8 August 1950.