Richard Halsey Best, the longest surviving squadron commander in the Battle of Midway, passed away on 28 October 2001. He was 92.
Best was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy from New Jersey and graduated in 1932. Following service in the USS Richmond (CL-9), he was accepted for flight training and received his wings of gold in 1935. For his outstanding performance, Best was rewarded with a coveted assignment: Fighting Squadron Two (VF-2), the famous “Flying Chiefs.” Composed largely of noncommissioned pilots, the squadron had only officers as division leaders, and Best flew Grumman F2Fs from the USS Lexington (CV-2) between 1936 and 1938.
Rotated to shore duty, he was an instructor at Pensacola for two years. When he returned to the fleet, Best requested assignment to scout-bombers, as he anticipated war with Japan. “1 knew that 1 could make the most contribution as a bomber rather than a fighter,” he explained.
Consequently, Best joined Bombing Squadron Six (VB-6) in the USS Enterprise (CV-6) in June 1940. He remained aboard “the Big E” for the next 24 months. By the end of 1941 he was an accomplished Douglas SBD pilot with 2,400 hours total time and nearly 250 carrier landings.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Best flew against every Japanese base that the Enterprise attacked during Vice Admiral William F. Halsey’s hit-and-run raids. As a senior- grade lieutenant, he assumed command of VB-6 and because of attrition became the only second-cruise aviator in the squadron. His radioman-gunner was the squadron’s leading chief, James F. Murray, who died in 1991.
Though displaying none of the typical aviator’s bravado, Best had confidence in his ability. Decades later, he said, “1 was the best bomber in the Pacific Fleet, and 1 expected to be out there for the duration. It never occurred to me that I would go home before it ended.”
On the morning of 4 June 1942, Best led VB-6 in a full-deckload strike against the four Japanese carriers attacking Midway Atoll. It was the decisive battle of the Pacific War, with mastery of the world’s greatest ocean at stake. The U.S. Pacific Fleet could commit only three carriers: the Enterprise, Hornet (CV-8), and Yorktown (CV-5). Following the air group commander, Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky, Scouting Six (VS- 6) and VB-6 conducted a methodical search for the enemy task force, which had changed course in evading U.S. land- and carrier-based strikes.
When McClusky found Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo’s force, the 30 Dauntlesses were low on fuel. McClusky, a fighter pilot relatively new to dive bombers, ignored doctrine and attacked the nearest carrier, the Kaga. Narrowly averting a collision, Best was forced to pull out of his dive and climb back to altitude. He was dismayed to find only his two wingmen with him—Lieutenant (junior grade) Edward J. Kroeger and Ensign Frederick T. Weber. The rest of VB- 6 had followed McClusky down on the closest target.
Nevertheless, Best and his wingmen attacked Nagumo’s flagship, the Akagi. Accounts vary, but they scored at least two hits and knocked the Akagi out of the battle. On recovering from his dive, Best noticed a third carrier burning to the north, the Soryu, victim of Bombing Three from the Yorktown.
Back aboard The Big E, Best found that nearly half the SBDs were missing, most victims of fuel exhaustion. McClusky had been wounded, so Lieutenant Earl Gallaher, skipper of VS-6, led the next strike. That afternoon Best led the remnants of VB-6 against the surviving enemy flattop, the Hiryu. As he did in the morning, he scored a hit, helping put the Pearl Harbor attacker on the bottom.
It was the greatest day of Best’s flying life; it was also the last. That evening he began coughing blood and was grounded. It was permanent: in a freak accident, a faulty oxygen bottle produced caustic soda that activated latent tuberculosis. Dick Best, the superb dive bomber who expected to fight the entire war, was medically retired as a lieutenant commander in March 1944.
After regaining his health, Best accepted a position with the Rand Corporation in 1948 and retired as manager of security in 1975. His most notable investigation involved another Rand employee, Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked “The Pentagon Papers.”
Best remained in the Los Angeles area, settling in Santa Monica. He admitted that for many years he was embittered about the end of his naval career, but eventually he regained an aviator’s perspective. “The last day I touched a stick I sank two carriers,” he grinned. It was more rewarding to him than 40 years on active duty.
Best was active in Navy-related organizations, including the Naval Academy Alumni Association and the Golden Eagles, reserved for 200 outstanding naval aviators. He also was a long-time member of the Tailhook Association, and attended post-1991 events “to show support for a maligned organization.”
For the rest of his long, productive life, he said, “Midway was revenge, sweet revenge [for Pearl Harbor], The Italians say it’s a dish best eaten cold, and by June it was six months cold.”
