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1942 Stanley Johnston & Battle of the Coral Sea...
1942 Stanley Johnston & Battle of the Coral Sea...
Item # 715591
June 14, 1942
CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE, June 14, 1942
* Life on board United States Navy carrier described
* Chicago Tribune journalist Stanley Johnston
* USS Lexington & the Battle of the Coral Sea
* Imperial Japanese Navy secret coding - codes
Read below for a short biography of Journalist Stanley Johnston who worked for this very publication. This issue contains the 2nd installment out of 15 he wrote regarding his experience onboard the USS Lexington during the Battle of the Coral Sea.
The front page has a one column heading: "HOW LEXINGTON CREW TRAINED TO BATTLE JAPS" with subhead. (see images) Lengthy text of his story continues on page 2.
These eyewitness stories of the battle were only published in this particular publication. Extremely rare as such.
Much more on World War II events of the day. Complete with 50+ pages, small binding holes and minor wear along the spine, generally very nice.
wikipedia notes: Stanley Johnston (1900 – September 13, 1962) was an Australian-American journalist who, as a correspondent during World War II, wrote a story for the Chicago Tribune that inadvertently revealed the extent of American code-breaking activities against the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The story resulted in efforts by the United States government to prosecute Johnston and other Chicago Tribune journalists, an effort what remains the only time the Espionage Act was used against journalists in the United States.
Johnston was the only member of the press aboard Lexington when the aircraft carrier took part in the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May 1942. Following the sinking of the aircraft carrier in the battle Johnston was repatriated aboard the USS Barnett with the Lexington's executive officer, Commander Morton T. Seligman. Seligman had access to naval communications. One general dispatch in late May dealt with American appreciations of Japanese naval movements in the weeks leading up to the June 1942 Battle of Midway, that implied American foreknowledge of events. Johnston claimed he saw the dispatch, "a scrap of paper with doodling on it," which he threw away. Johnston returned to Chicago and published 15 first-hand accounts of the events of the battle. He also wrote an account of the prelude to the Midway action that caused fears in the United States Navy that the Japanese would realize that their codes were broken.
Category: World War II
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