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First Bombardment of Midway
Part of thePacific War World War II
Midway Atoll on November 24, 1941.
Date December 7, 1941 Location Sand Island,Midway Atoll,Hawaiian Archipelago,Pacific Ocean Result Midway bombarded; IJN destroyers retire.
Belligerents
United States	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Lieutenant ColonelHarold D. Shannon First LieutenantGeorge H. Cannon †	CaptainKaname Konishi
Strength
Land: unknownmarines, unknownsailors, unknownshore batteries Air: unknown aircraft	2destroyers
Casualties and losses
4 killed, 10 wounded, 1 aircraft destroyed, Midway base damaged	1 destroyer damaged; light casualties

TheFirst Bombardment of Midway, or theFirst Bombardment of Sand Island, orAttack on Midway, was a small land and sea engagement ofWorld War II. It occurred on the very first day of thePacific War, 7 December 1941, not long after the majorattack on Pearl Harbor. TwoImperial Japanesedestroyers bombarded Sand Island ofMidway Atoll. The Japanese successfully damaged theU.S. Marine base before being engaged by Americanshore batteries and forced to flee.

Before the beginning of the Pacific War, American marines were stationed on Midway and had established a small base with the ability to service land, sea and air forces. The marines also constructed all of the bases'fortifications; civilian contractors constructed the buildings. They used 5 inch (127 mm) guns, built in 1916, and 3 inch (76 mm) guns of 1921 to defend the islands. Fortifications had been manned since 1905. Not only werePearl Harbor,Wake Island,Guam and thePhilippines attacked in the opening phase of the conflict, but Midway was shelled as well by two Japanese destroyers,Ushio andSazanami.

The two destroyers were part of the Japanese fleet that had just attacked Pearl Harbor. Overall, the unit was under the command of CaptainKaname Konishi, thoughLieutenant CommanderYoshitake Uesugi skipperedUshio and Lieutenant CommanderHiroshi Uwai skippered the other destroyer. The engagement began at 09:31 and lasted 54 minutes. The American command, communications and power plant building was damaged by a 5 in (130 mm) shell, which deflected off an adjacent laundromat. Battery "H" commander—First LieutenantGeorge H. Cannon—was hit by shrapnel in thepelvis while inside the command building. By this time, the communications were down from enemy fire, so Lieutenant Cannon refused medical attention until he was assured that the communications were restored to the post and the wounded marines around him were evacuated^{[citation needed]}.

By the time Cannon received aid from a medic, it was too late; he perished due to blood loss. For Cannon's "distinguished conduct in the line of his profession, extraordinary courage, and disregard of his own condition", he received the firstMedal of Honor issued to a U.S. Marine for actions in the Second World War. A street on Sand Island was named after Cannon and continues to be known by that name, a 1943destroyer escort—USS Cannon (DE-99)—was also named after him. Six Japanese rounds struck and entered the mainPBY Catalinahangar and destroyed a PBY inside; the Pilot and Fireman were killed (see next paragraph), while other civilians inside survived without injury. The hospital was hit also and burned^{[citation needed]}. All of the damaged buildings were quickly rebuilt by the civilian contractors.

Shell craters littered the ground all around the buildings of Sand Island. The Marines did not use aircraft against the attacking Japanese. They did use theirartillery batteries and managed to damage one of the destroyers when they came within range^{[citation needed]}. The other destroyer quickly laid a smokescreen and the two vessels retired. Four men died on Midway that morning: NavyEnsign Donald J. Kraker and Fireman Second Class Ralph E. Tuttle and Marines Lieutenant Cannon andPrivate First Class Elmer R. Morrell.^[1][2] Several others were injured. Navy Chief mechanics engineer John J. Szajkowski survived with another sailor by jumping in the water when they saw the planes coming for the hangar. Japanese casualties are unknown.Ushio fired 109 rounds andSazanami fired 193^{[citation needed]}.

In February 1942, a Japanese submarine bombarded the atoll. In June 1942, theBattle of Midway was won by American forces. The Marines by that time had received reinforcements, both personnel and some newer and bigger guns, all of which were used by the Marine garrison when they engaged attacking JapaneseA6M2 Zeros in June 1942.^[3]

• Infamy Speech
• Niihau incident
• Bombardment of Howland Island
• Battle of Wake Island

• The Battle of Midway: Turning the Tide in the Pacific, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan

28°12′22″N177°22′44″W / 28.206°N 177.379°W /28.206; -177.379

• Conflicts in 1941
• Battles of World War II involving the United States
• Battles of World War II involving Japan
• Battles involving Hawaii
• Pacific Ocean theater of World War II
• Battle of Midway
• December 1941 in Oceania

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