Between the island of New Guinea and Australia lies the Coral Sea, with the Solomon Islands just beyond. While later in World War II, major conflicts would rage in the Solomon’s, the likes of Guadalcanal, few are familiar with the most important sea battle known by the Aussie’s as “The Battle that saved Australia”.
The importance of the Battle of the Coral Sea, which spanned from May 4 through the 8th 1942, is recorded in history as the first carrier versus carrier fight in which the opposing aircraft carriers were about two hundred miles apart and never saw each other. It was the air planes each side launched which delivered the damage and set the stage for future clashes in the Pacific Theater. More importantly, it was the first time US. Forces stopped the Japanese from advancing. [Read more…] about Battle of the Coral Sea
As the 353 Japanese aircraft rained death and destruction across the Island of Oahu, Takeo Yoshikawa, using his alias of vice-counsel Tadashi Morimura, was hurriedly burning his implicating files inside the Japanese Consulate on Nuuanu Avenue. The 13,400-square-foot grounds of the Japanese consulate, in a well-to-do neighborhood, displayed a gold imperial chrysanthemum crest outside the two-story main building where the smoke billowed from the chimney, as the pile of incriminating evidence was destroyed.