[The following takes place in the Pacific Theater. For context, a Japanese “Nell” bomber had been shot down and the pilot was aiming the doomed craft in a Kamikaze trajectory with the American carrier Enterprise.]
Aviation Machinist’s Mate Third Class Bruno Peter Gaido decided he must do something. The young member of Scouting Six’s flight deck plane-handling crew had watched the Nell bomber attack from the flight deck catwalk. Lieutenant Nakai’s crippled bomber was heading for his ship, so Gaido sprinted across the deck to help. Willie West’s 6-S-5 was the rearmost Dauntless spotted forward, and Gaido leaped into the rear cockpit. He swung the .30-caliber machine gun toward the incoming Nell and began blasting away at the massive aircraft.
Admiral Halsey and dozens of others watched Gaido pour lead into the flaming Nell. His fire was perfect; his bullets may well have killed the fanatical pilot. Enterprise was saved by Gaido’s actions and a violent turn to starboard by Captain Davis. Nakai’s big bomber failed to score a direct hit, but its right wing sliced right through the fuselage of the Scouting Six SBD from which Gaido was firing. The Nell’s wing skidded into the port catwalk, while West’s broken Dauntless was knocked toward the after edge of the flight deck. Gaido stood in the SBD’s torn tail section and depressed the .30-calber gun to hammer tracers into the wreckage of the Japanese bomber as it hit the ocean astern of Enterprise.
The flight deck crews sprang into action and extinguished the gasoline fires. Lieutenant Dickinson and others raced from the VS-6 ready room to the flight deck. They gaped in awe at the sheared-off SBD. There was Bruno Gaido, standing in the plane’s severed tail, looking around for something else to shoot.
[…]
After the action, Admiral Halsey called Gaido to the bridge and asked him his name.
”What is your rate, Bruno?” the admiral then asked.
”Aviation Machinist’s Mate Third Class, sir,” said Gaido.
”Well, Bruno, you are now Aviation Machinist’s Mate First Class,” said Halsey with a smile.
Source:
Moore, Stephen L. “We Lost As Much As We Gained.” Pacific Payback: The Carrier Aviators Who Avenged Pearl Harbor at the Battle of Midway. NAL Caliber, 2014. 103-4. Print.
Original Source(s) Listed:
Stafford, The Big E, 46.
Dickinson, The Flying Guns, 103-5.
Leaming, Scouting Squadron Six, 54.
Further Reading:
Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr., KBE
USS Enterprise (CV-6) / “The Big E”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CV-6)
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