John C. Waldron

The very popular "Waldron Deck" parking structure, named in the Lieutenant's honor, set just south of Soldier Field in Chicago, is the premier location for Bears fans to gather for tailgating on game day. John C. Waldron Bridge (renamed in his honor in 2002) across the Missouri River between Pierre and Fort Pierre, SD.

Torpedo 8 earned the Presidential Unit Citation. Lieutenant Commander Waldron received the Navy Cross posthumously, as well as a share of the unit citation. Waldron was portrayed by actor Glenn Corbett in the 1976 film Midway.

Naval Auxiliary Air Station Waldron Field, part of the NAS Corpus Christi, Texas complex, was named in his honor. Closed in the 1950s, NAAS Waldron Field was later reactivated in the early 1960s as an outlying field renamed OLF Waldron Field in support of Student Naval Aviator primary flight training operations at NAS Corpus Christi, a role it continues to have today.

"Torpedo 8" did not get a chance to practice its trade, however, until nearly 10 months after it had been commissioned at Norfolk. Too late to take part in the Battle of the Coral Sea, VT-8 would receive its brutal baptism of fire at the turning point of the Pacific War—the Battle of Midway. In the days preceding that battle, VT-8 led a relaxed existence on board the carrier as she steamed toward "Point Luck" from Pearl Harbor in the first few days of June 1942. Finally, on the eve of battle, Commander Waldron called his men together and distributed a mimeographed plan of attack. He concluded by saying that if worst came to worst, he wanted each man to do his utmost to destroy the enemy. "If there is only one plane left to make a final run-in," he told his men, "I want that man to go in and get a hit. May God be with us all. Good luck, happy landings, and give 'em hell."

Camp Waldron of the Farragut Naval Training Station on Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho was named in honor of LtCdr Waldron. The camp, designed to house and train 5,000 naval recruits at a time, opened on 8 November 1942.

Waldron flew observation aircraft off Colorado (BB-45), before he joined Patrol Squadron 1B (VP-1B), Battle Force, for a brief period in late 1936. Subsequently flying from Saratoga (CV-3) with Fighting Squadron 3 (VF-3) until the early summer of 1939, he reported back to NAS Pensacola, for further instructor's duty on June 27, 1939. Waldron then served three successive tours of shore duty, all involving flying, at the Naval Proving Ground, Dahlgren, Va.; the Bureau of Ordnance, Washington, D.C.; and finally in the 3rd Naval District, where he was appointed naval inspector of ordnance at the plant of Carl L. Norden, Inc., in New York City—makers of the famed Norden bombsight. Detached from that duty in the summer of 1941, Lieutenant Commmader Waldron took command of the newly formed Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8), part of the embryonic air group being assembled for the new fleet carrier Hornet (CV-8) at Newport News, Virginia. The Pearl Harbor attack, though, meant that his training of his men had to be intensive.

He received an appointment as midshipman from his home state on June 16, 1920 and graduated with the United States Naval Academy Class of 1924. Following his initial sea duty aboard Seattle (CA-11), Waldron went to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, where he received his wings in the summer of 1927. Over the ensuing months, Waldron flew with torpedo squadrons (VT-1S and VT-9S and received his promotion to lieutenant, junior grade, on February 16, 1928. He served at the Naval Academy from May 24 to September 13, 1929, where he instructed midshipmen in the field of aviation. Then, after duty as an instructor at the NAS Pensacola, between October 1929 and June 1931, Waldron went to sea again, this time with Scouting Squadron 3B (VS-3B), based aboard Lexington (CV-2), reporting for duty on July 1, 1931.

John Charles Waldron (August 24, 1900 – June 4, 1942) was a United States Navy aviator who led a squadron of torpedo bombers in World War II. He was among the twenty-nine men in his squadron who perished in the Battle of Midway.

Waldron was born on August 24, 1900 at Fort Pierre, South Dakota, son of rancher Charles Westbrook Waldron and Jane Van Metre grandson of lawyer and probate Judge George Prentiss Waldron, and a sixth great nephew of Richard Waldron. He was of colonial New Hampshire families on his father's side, and of Oglala Lakota and Southerner background on his mother's side. His family immigrated to Canada when he was a child and homesteaded near Lashburn, Saskatchewan where he spent his youth before returning to the USA. In the midst of his armed forces career he married Adelaide Wentworth and had two daughters. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, but never practiced. World War II Navy Commander George Philip Jr., a Navy Cross recipient and namesake of USS George Philip (FFG-12), was the son of Waldron's sister Alice Island Waldron.