- General Collections
- 1941
- 1942
- Battles of Java Sea and Sunda Strait
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- Doolittle Raid
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- Battle of Midway
- Submarine Combat Patrols
- Battle of the Atlantic
- Solomons Campaign: Guadalcanal
- Operation Torch: Invasion of North Africa
- Building the Infrastructure for War
- Manning the U.S. Navy
- 1943
- Establishment of Numbered Fleets
- The Aleutians Campaign
- Battle of the Atlantic—Continued
- On the Offensive Beyond Guadalcanal
- Sicilian Campaign: Operation Husky
- Tarawa: Breaking into the Gilberts
- Landings at Salerno, Italy: Operation Avalanche
- Naval Air Strikes Against German Shipping: Operation Leader
- 1944
- Operation Shingle: Landing at Anzio, Italy
- Gamble at Los Negros: The Admiralty Islands Campaign
- Evacuation by Submarine: USS Angler in the Philippines
- Securing New Guinea: Operations Reckless and Persecution
- Exercise Tiger: Disaster at Slapton Sands
- Defeating the Sharks: The Capture of U-505
- Pearl Harbor Ablaze Again: The West Loch Disaster
- Operation Overlord: Invasion of Normandy
- Operation Forager: The Battle of Saipan
- The Battle of the Philippine Sea
- Port Chicago Naval Magazine Explosion
- Operation Forager Continued: Landings on Guam and Tinian
- Operation Dragoon: The Invasion of Southern France
- Operation Stalemate II: The Battle of Peleliu
- The Battle of Leyte Gulf
- The Battle off Samar: The Sacrifice of "Taffy 3"
- United States Navy War Instructions, 1944
- The Japanese “Hell Ships” of World War II
- 1945
- Battle of Iwo Jima
- Navy Nurses Behind Enemy Lines in the Philippines
- Operation Plunder: Crossing the Rhine
- Battle of Okinawa
- Okinawa Highlights: 4-11 April 1945
- Battle of Okinawa: Historic Overview & Importance
- Okinawa Highlights: 12–19 April 1945
- Kamikaze Attack on USS Isherwood
- The Destruction of USS Pringle
- The Sinking of USS Little
- The Most Dangerous Place off Okinawa
- A Kamikaze Attack on New Mexico, Fifth Fleet Flag: A Photo Essay
- A Ceremony for the Fallen: Aftermath of a Kamikaze Attack
- Admiral Spruance Recounts Kamikaze Attack on His Flagship, New Mexico (BB-40)
- On the Verge of Breaking Down Completely: Combat Fatigue off Okinawa and the Destruction of USS Longshaw
- Investigating Okinawa: The Story Behind A Kamikaze Pilot’s Scarf
- The Loss of USS Twiggs at Okinawa
- The Most Difficult Antiaircraft Problem Yet Faced By the Fleet
- Victory in Europe (V-E) Day
- Japan's Surrender and Aftermath
- World War II Profiles in Duty
- ENS Allen W. Bain and Minneapolis (CA-36)
- LT Eugene A. Barham and Laffey (DD-459)
- LT Richard H. Best of VB-6
- LCDR Joseph W. Callahan and Ralph Talbot (DD-390)
- LT Albert P. “Scoofer” Coffin of Torpedo Ten
- MAtt1/c Leonard R. Harmon and CDR Mark H. Crouter of San Francisco (CA-38)
- CDR Frank A. Erickson—First Helicoptar SAR
- CDR Ernest E. Evans of Johnston (DD-557)
- S1/c James Fahy on Montpelier (CL-57)
- Float Plane Pilots in the Pacific
- AMM1/c Bruno P. Gaido of VS-6
- CAPT Joy Bright Hancock
- Charles Kleinsmith and Yorktown (CV-5)
- LCDR Edwin T. Layton of PACFLT N2
- LCDR Maxwell F. Leslie of VB-3
- LCDR Eugene E. Lindsey of VT-6
- ENS Donald W. Lynch and Mugford (DD-389)
- Theodore W. Marshall of VP-22
- LCDR Lance E. Massey of VT-3
- LCDR Bernard F. McMahon and Drum (SS-228)
- ARM1/c Oliver Rasmussen
- LTJG Melvin C. Roach, Guadalcanal Fighter Pilot
- CDR Joseph J. Rochefort and "Station Hypo"
- Chief Machinist William A. Smith and Enterprise (CV-6)
- LTJG Steffenhagen and Shōhō
- Submerged Appendectomy
- LCDR John C. Waldron of VT-8
- LCDR William J. “Gus” Widhelm of Scouting Eight
- Theater of Operations--Pacific
- Operations
- Biography
- World War II 1939-1945
Lieutenant (j.g.) Melvin C. Roach, Guadalcanal Fighter Pilot
In the late afternoon of 9 October 1942, 11 F4F Wildcat fighters from VF-5 lifted off from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal and headed west. They were acting as escorts for Navy and Marine SBD dive bombers and TBF torpedo planes sent out against an incoming Japanese “Tokyo Express” run, composed of the seaplane carrier Nisshin and five destroyers, which was bringing in troops, supplies, and heavy weapons to Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. It was 1800 and the sun was almost touching the water when the fighting began. While the SBDs and TBFs let down to begin their runs on the Japanese ships, the first F4Fs started attacking several Japanese floatplane fighters that were flying overhead as combat air patrol.
Lieutenant Junior Grade Melvin C. Roach was flying one of the first pair of fighters following behind the leader. Roach, a reservist who had gotten his wings the year before, had earned a degree in chemical engineering from Oklahoma A&M College before entering the service. After he and his wingman split up following an unsuccessful run on a floatplane fighter, Roach spotted another and finally managed to get on its tail. He fired on the Mitsubishi Type 0 floatplane, hitting it multiple times before it suddenly slowed, and he sped past it. The Japanese aircraft returned the favor, however, and Roach found his cockpit suddenly filling with smoke and spraying oil. Knowing his plane was badly damaged, he headed southwest for Buraku Island, even as the Japanese aircraft he had crippled ditched in the water below.
Some minutes later, after ditching successfully at sea in the dark, Mel Roach began paddling his rubber raft in the direction of Buraku. He finally reached the small, apparently uninhabited island—not much more than scrub brush, mangroves, and a few coconut trees—in the early afternoon of 10 October. Having indicated his presence to two F4Fs flying overhead by firing off a flare, he finally was rescued after dawn the next day by a J2F Duck, but not before he had had been forced to spend a sleepless night hiding in a hole in a coral ledge from several Japanese soldiers who earlier had been marooned on the island.
Roach, who was eventually awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his exploits in the skies over Guadalcanal, received a regular Navy commission in early 1944. He was unfortunately killed in an aircraft accident in the Pacific on 12 June 1944.
—Jeff Barlow, Naval Historical Center, October 2008
More "Profiles in Duty: Vignettes of Naval Service and Leadership"
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