12/6/41 2200 hours – 100 miles east of Pearl

The Lexington and Enterprise headed north at flank speed in light seas. The escorts were straining to keep up with the fast carriers. With the exception of a few men making last minute repairs to aircraft the carrier’s maintenance and flight crews were sleeping. Preparation was over it was now time for the battle. The current battle plan called for an early morning launch. The evening had been spent planning and getting all planes ready. The carriers would launch a Combat Air Patrol just before dawn to provide air cover for the fleet. The remaining planes would be readied to make a maximum attack on the Japanese fleet. The Saratoga had been notified of the plan. She was steaming west and would meet them at about 0400.

Lieutenant Ed Boise, a Wildcat fighter pilot had been on the Enterprise for only three weeks. Now he faced battle the next day and he was sure he was not ready. He had been in his bunk for over an hour trying to get some rest but his mind refused to shut down. He would doze off but he kept seeing the silhouettes of Japanese fighters but in his dream he couldn’t remember their names. He wished he had spent more time studying them. The silhouettes grew, each became a fighter, headed toward him with its guns blazing. Each time as the plane approached his guns jammed and he felt the Japanese bullets hit his plane. His engine quit, the plane caught fire, and he parachuted into the cold water. Each time he hit the water he woke up.

Each time he lay awake for a while wondering if this was what air combat was like for all pilots or was he the only one who was scared. He saw the squadron leader apparently asleep in is bunk. Surely he was not afraid.

12/7/41 0600 hours – North of Pearl

On board the Lexington, Enterprise and Saratoga, flight crews were already in briefing rooms before dawn. Plane crews were spotting armed and gassed planes on the deck and even then were checking and rechecking every detail; engines, controls, radios, guns, bombs, torpedoes. It would have provided no comfort to anyone in the fleet to know that the same activity was under way on the Japanese carriers.

Halsey looked out at the fleet. He knew the consequences of the action they were about to take. Over the next twelve hours he would join with the Japanese in a decisive Naval battle that would be fought at every level from 22,000 feet above the surface of the Pacific to one hundred feet below its surface. The cream of the American Navy would meet the best of the Japanese Navy in a decisive battle. To the winner would go the control of much of the Pacific Ocean. Halsey looked at the fleet and mused, “The Japs bit off too much this time. They’ve stuck their head into the meat grinder and I’m turning the handle.”