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USS Midway continues to serve in San Diego
By Tom Adkinson
November 11, 2022
(Editor’s note: November’s two important events – Thanksgiving and Veterans Day – are related. Thanksgiving is for expressing gratitude for all we have, and Veterans Day is for thanking and honoring all who served in the military. San Diego has one of the best attractions to honor veterans every day of the year.)
Fireworks explode over the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. The ship was the longest-serving carrier of the 20th century. Image by USS Midway Museum
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SAN DIEGO, California – Construction of the aircraft carrier USS Midway wasn’t finished during the war in which it was built, but it had a long and notable career before retiring in San Diego and becoming one of the nation’s most visited museums.
Because of a cadre of approximately 650 volunteer docents, the Midway is a tremendous place to meet veterans, hear their stories and learn about the operation of a floating airport with the population of a small town.
The USS Midway was named for the decisive Battle of Midway. The battle was an air-sea encounter only six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II. The American victory prevented Japan from neutralizing the U.S. as a naval power.
Learning by doing is the process this USS Midway volunteer uses with young visitors to the flight deck. Image by USS Midway Museum
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Construction of the aircraft carrier began in October 1943 and took only 17 months. It was commissioned in September 1945, just a week after World War II ended. It went on to be the longest-serving carrier in the 20th century.
It participated in the Cold War, in the Vietnam War (both in combat and in the dramatic evacuation of Saigon in 1975) and in the rescue of 1,800 Americans when Mt. Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991. Its last service was as the flagship of Persian Gulf air operations in Operation Desert Storm.
It was decommissioned in 1992 and took on a new role as the USS Midway Museum in 2004.
This statue depicts a catapult officer, better known as a shooter, who has the last say about an aircraft’s takeoff. Image by USS Midway Museum
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“San Diego is a Navy town, so we have many Navy veterans who volunteer. They bring the ship to life,” said museum sales manger Joe Wagstaff.
The Midway’s aircraft inventory is impressive, taking you from the propeller-driven planes of the 1940s to the jets that flew in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm. Several helicopters are in the collection, too.
Also impressive is Cafe 41 (41 is the ship’s hull number), the ship’s main food facility for guests. It is fresh off a $7 million renovation and comes with a major bonus. Eighty percent of the cafe is open-air, and as Wagstaff says, “It delivers one of the best views of San Diego to be found.”
One of the USS Midway’s volunteer docents “swears in” a pair of junior pilots on a tour of the aircraft carrier. Image by USS Midway Museum
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Approximately 20 docents are on board every day, particularly on the flight deck and “on the island” (the bridge).
The ship is massive. To help you explore, you receive an audio tour device, and locations on the tour trigger recorded messages from sailors. The normal tour covers three levels – the flight deck, the hanger deck and below decks, where the everyday work of the ship took place. Groups can book private one-hour docent-led tours.
San Diego stretches out from Navy Pier, home of the USS Midway Museum, one of the nation’s most visited museums. Image by USS Midway Museum
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If you want to get a head start on a tour, the museum’s website features almost 20 video clips narrated by crew members and people whose lives the ship touched.
A particularly poignant one is a narrative from Stephanie Dinh, whose family was rescued by a Midway helicopter during the fall of Saigon in 1975. They were among 3,000 South Vietnamese whom the Midway sheltered and took to the U.S. As an adult, Ding became one of the Midway Museum’s volunteers.
Trip-planning resources: Midway.org and SanDiego.org
(Travel writer Tom Adkinson’s book, 100 Things To Do in Nashville Before You Die, is available on Amazon.com.
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