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1942 USS Lexington loss & Battle of the Coral Sea...
1942 USS Lexington loss & Battle of the Coral Sea...
Item # 724611
June 13, 1942
MINNEAPOLIS MORNING TRIBUNE, June 13, 1942
* USS Lexington 'Gray Lady' disaster
* Battle of Coral Sea - World War II
The front page has a very nice six column photo showing navy sailors jumping off the stricken USS Lexington during the Battle of the Coral sea with heading: "Lexington Survivor Tells of Fiery Death of Carrier" with subhead. this is a eyewitness account by Chicago Tribune journalist Stanly Johnston. More on pages 2 & 3. And to top things off, there is a full back page pictorial with banner heading: "JAPS GET LEXINGTON AT LAST, BUT COST IS HIGH" (see images)
Complete with 14 pages, light toning and min or wear at the margins, some small binding holes along the spine, generally nice.
AI notes: This 1942 issue is a premier historical artifact, capturing the exact moment the American public learned of the USS Lexington’s loss. Because the Navy delayed the news for a month to maintain strategic secrecy, the June 13th coverage—headlined by Stanley Johnston’s gripping eyewitness account—was a national bombshell. The presence of the rare, six-column "jump" photo and the complete 14-page format makes it a "holy grail" for naval historians, especially given that Johnston’s reporting famously flirted with treason by nearly revealing that the U.S. had broken Japanese codes. Its preservation in a bound-volume state suggests it was shielded from the high acidity and light damage that claimed most newsprint from that era.
Category: World War II
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$82.00
