#vt-8

Torpedo Eight sustained the highest number of casualties of any naval air squadron that fought at the Midway battle, as well as of all the naval squadrons that flew with the Cactus Air Force on Guadalcanal. At Midway forty five of the forty eight officers and men serving in Torpedo Eight were killed. At Guadalcanal, seven of the remaining squadron members were killed and another eight wounded. Its thirty five pilots won an astounding thirty nine Navy Crosses. The enlisted men in the squadron earned more than fifty medals for bravery in action, including multiple awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Silver Star, and the Air Medal. Although official Navy records of military awards are not maintained on a squadron-by-squadron basis, Torpedo Eight might well have been the most highly decorated air squadron of the war. Torpedo Eight earned another distinction that was unparalleled among the naval squadrons operating in the Pacific in 1942. It was the only unit to be awarded two Presidential Unit Citations from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the first for the squadron’s contribution to the victory at Midway, and the second for its distinction at Guadalcanal.