Otis Kight grew up near Atlanta [Annotator's Note: Atlanta, Georgia] and nearby Stone Mountain [Annotator's Note: Stone Mountain, Georgia] in the late 1920s and the 1930s. He worked on the family farm to grow what they ate. They never felt that they were poor despite the opinion of others. He had an older brother who joined the Navy a year before Kight did in July 1940. Kight joined the Navy in 1941. Kight also had two younger brothers. One of which made a career of the Navy. That brother retired as a commander after 30 years. The other younger brother joined the Marines for four years and then went to college on the GI Bill. He then became a biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Commission. The older brother was a shipfitter on the USS Dixie [Annotator's Note: USS Dixie (AD-14)]. After 30 years, he retired as a senior chief. because it was a better alternative to farm work. He listened to his brother talking about his personal adventures in the Navy and decided that was the direction for him to take as well. The pay and life as a sailor was an improvement over the hard work on the farm. Kight's father was a pharmacist who had served in World War 1. He had been gassed in France and received disability after his discharge. His disability along with his pharmacy career helped support the family. His parents did not mind Kight joining the Navy.

Otis Kight had his basic training for the Navy at Norfolk [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia]. He performed very well on the mechanic and radio tests. He was placed in a fighter squadron on the Yorktown [Annotator's Note: Fighting Squadron 42 (VF-42) flying from USS Yorktown (CV-5)]. It was just the luck of the draw for him to land that rate. There was little consideration given to what the individual was adapted to do prior to an assignment after basic. Kight boarded the Yorktown in Norfolk after a voyage on the Wasp [Annotator's Note: USS Wasp (CV-7)] to Bermuda and then a return to Norfolk on a destroyer. It was November [Annotator's Note: November 1941] which yielded a turbulent voyage on the small destroyer. Shortly after, it was announced that Pearl Harbor had been bombed [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. No one knew much about that location. The aircraft on the Yorktown were immediately prepared for combat and the ship headed out to the Pacific through the Panama Canal. When the ship reached Pearl Harbor, various training exercises were performed before heading to the Coral Sea [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Coral Sea, 4 to 8 May 1942] where it was damaged. Yorktown returned to Pearl Harbor to be patched for the next enemy encounter which led to the carrier's sinking [Annotator's Note: at the Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942].

Otis Kight participated in the Battle of Coral Sea [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Coral Sea, 4 to 8 May 1942]. Few Americans know about it but the Australians do. Kight and his son participated in an Australian celebration of the battle which yielded a Japanese retreat from its objective of taking Port Moresby, New Guinea. If successful, it would have cut the supply lines to Australia. Previously, the Yorktown [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)] had been in smaller actions nearby but she was deployed to counter one small and two large enemy carriers. It was the first naval engagement where surface ships did not see their opposition. The Lexington [Annotator's Note: USS Lexington (CV-2)] was sunk [Annotator's Note: on 8 May 1942] and Yorktown was bombed during Coral Sea. The enemy lost one carrier with another damaged. The Japanese combat personnel stayed in action until death or injury. That was a significant outcome of the Battle of Midway [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942]. If two more enemy carriers had joined the four deployed, the odds would have been two to one against the American carrier force. The major loss for the enemy at Midway was not just the lost pilots but the four carriers full of maintenance people. The Japanese never recovered from that. Kight saw the Lexington being hit. A bomb landed close to Kight but was a near miss overboard. Shrapnel injured some of the crew. One man was hit badly and bled to death. A bomb penetrated the flight deck and went down several decks before exploding. Supplies ended up running low during the operation. The next day was spent sorting out the damages and burying the dead. The flight deck was patched so air operations were possible. The side of the armor plating was damaged by the near miss that exploded under water. Fuel leaked as the carrier made its way to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. The Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] and Hornet [Annotator's Note: USS Hornet (CV-8)] could not make it back soon enough from the Tokyo Raid [Annotator's Note: Doolittle Raid, bombing attack on the Japanese mainland on 18 April 1942 carried out by 16 North American B-25 Mitchell medium bombers launched from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) and named for the raid's commander, then US Army Air Forces Colonel, later US Air Force General, James H. Doolittle] to assist at Coral Sea. The three carriers were the remaining units for the Pacific fleet since the Saratoga [Annotator's Note: USS Saratoga (CV-3)] had been torpedoed and was being repaired in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] or 'Frisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. Only one CVE [Annotator's Note: escort aircraft carrier] was available but not close enough to aid in the fight. Coral Sea was a learning experience for the Americans but not so much for the Japanese. The enemy was reluctant to send out scouting planes off their carriers. They preferred using cruiser or battleship floatplanes. The United States' carriers did deploy scouting aircraft and squadrons. At Pearl Harbor, the Yorktown was patched and re-provisioned over a two day period. Kight did manage to briefly visit his brother on the USS Dixie [Annotator's Note: USS Dixie (AD-14)] before he had to get back to his carrier. Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet] came aboard and emphasized the urgency to get the ship back out to sea. The crew knew that something important was brewing. They had already loaded enough ordnance aboard the carrier to fight the war for three months. They were never provided much in the way of military intelligence.

Otis Kight's squadron, VF-42 [Annotator's Note: Fighting Squadron 42 (VF-42), USS Yorktown (CV-5)] had the bulk of the aviators but VF-3 [Annotator's Note: Fighting Squadron 3 (VF-3)] with Thach [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Admiral John Smith "Jimmy" Thach] had only four aviators but lots of airplanes. Likewise, the bombing and scouting squadrons seemed all confused between Yorktown [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)] and Saratoga [Annotator's Note: USS Saratoga (CV-3)] flyers. Torpedo 5 [Annotator's Note: Torpedo Squadron 5 (VT-5)] was not changed. Nevertheless, Yorktown fielded a messed up air group. Oscar Pederson [Annotator's Note: air group commander for the Yorktown was US Navy Lieutenant Commander Oscar Pederson] took over as commander. Jimmy Flatley [Annotator's Note: US Navy Lieutenant Commander James Flatley] stayed at Kaneohe [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station Kanehoe, Oahu, Hawaii] as CO [Annotator's Note: commanding officer]. Lovelace [Annotator's Note: US Navy Lieutenant Commander Donald Alexander Lovelace] was headed back to the states prior to Kight witnessing him being killed in an airplane crash aboard the Yorktown [Annotator's Note: 30 May 1942]. During the first part of Midway [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942], the Army Air Forces claimed victories that did not really occur. Kight witnessed accidents during the landing of aircraft on his carrier. Tail hooks on the planes did not always grab the restraining cables. Tom Cheek [Annotator's Note: US Navy Lieutenant (j.g.) Tom Fred Cheek] managed to survive one such crash on Yorktown. Casualties were a way of life aboard the carrier during the war. Military burials at sea resulted and the crew moved on. Losses in the war were heavy. The loss of those people was a shame but is expected during war. Kight thought highly of Jimmy Thach except for him being caught up in the politics of combining the fighter squadrons. Flatley lost out in the process. Thach and Cheek would challenge any of Yorktown's fighter pilots to outwit the "Thach weave" [Annotator's Note: aerial combat tactic developed by later US Navy Admiral John S. "Jimmy" Thatch]. Cheek was a damn good pilot. Thach was good. The weave saved many pilots in the F4 [Annotator's Note: Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter aircraft] but the F6 [Annotator's Note: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft] overcame many of the deficiencies of its predecessor. The Yorktown's crew did not know what their mission was as they departed the repair facilities at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. Kight knew he personally had a job to do and he did it no matter what the next assignment was. Kight "worked his butt off" on the morning of 6 June [Annotator's Note: 6 June 1942]. The air group personalities were very different between his ship and the Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] and Hornet [Annotator's Note: USS Hornet (CV-8)]. Kight was not impressed with the air group commanders and their advisors on the other two carriers. Yorktown launched its torpedo, bombing, scouting and fighter squadrons sequentially according to their speed and fuel capabilities. The other carriers did not consider that and fighter cover for their squadrons was not as effective. Torpedo 8 [Annotator's Note: Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8)] was the only squadron off one carrier that did not get lost. Yorktown's air group made some mistakes but they did get the job done.

Otis Kight was participating in flight operations when the Japanese attacked Yorktown [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5) during the Battle of Midway on 6 June 1942]. The Japanese mistook the Yorktown for another carrier because they thought it had been sunk by a previous attack. Meanwhile, Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] and Hornet [Annotator's Note: USS Hornet (CV-8)] were not even scratched. Most of the incoming adversary bombers were shot down but three or four came in and took out the flight deck aft of the island. A second attack hit the ship again. Kight was feeding ammunition cans to the defensive machine gunners until it was time to push airplanes. When the second attack consisting of torpedo planes arrived, the ship did not have the ability to get its speed up to avoid the incoming fish [Annotator's Note: slang for torpedoes]. Buckmaster [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Elliott Buckmaster] had successfully avoided all the torpedoes at Coral Sea [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Coral Sea, 4 to 8 May 1942] but at Midway the enemy came in from both directions. The American fighter planes had been fitted with six guns instead of four which lessened the amount of ammunition they could take on. The consumption of ammunition by the covering air patrol pilots was much quicker. That resulted in less defensive capability and the sinking of the Yorktown. McClusky [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Rear Admiral Clarence Wade McClusky, Jr.] said at one of the reunions that Yorktown was sunk because the fighter pilots did not have as much ammunition as they were used to having. He ran out of ammunition and the last two torpedo planes got the Yorktown. Kight saw how one small thing could impact world history. Despite McClusky messing up his airwing attack on the Japanese earlier that morning, another squadron managed to overcome the error. Bull Halsey [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey] had shingles [Annotator's Note: a viral infection] and that probably helped in the American victory. The Nautilus [Annotator's Note: USS Nautilus (SS-168)] fired her torpedoes at the Japanese carriers but they were duds. A Japanese destroyer detached to give chase to the submarine eventually led American aircraft to the Japanese carrier fleet. It just seems as if somebody up there liked the Americans. [Annotator's Note: Kight laughs.] Kight was hauling ammunition when the enemy torpedoes hit his ship. The ship stopped and began to list. The crew moved aft and then the word came to abandon ship. Kight searched for a life raft in the aircraft onboard the ship but only Tom Cheek's [Annotator's Note: US Navy Lieutenant (j.g.) Tom Fred Cheek] had one remaining but it was upside down. Kight donned a life jacket and departed Yorktown. The Astoria [Annotator's Note: USS Astoria (CA-34)] was recovering men by using a power boat with lines hanging off it with life jackets strung out every 15 feet. It made a rotation through the sea to pick up survivors. Astoria crewmen came down cargo nets and aided the survivors aboard their ship. The Yorktown survivors laid down and rested a long time.

Otis Kight and others volunteered for the salvage party to return to Yorktown [Annotator's Note: the USS Yorktown (CV-5) suffered two torpedo hits and listed heavily but did not sink at Midway until a Japanese submarine hit it with two additional torpedoes]. Kight did not have the damage control experience that was needed for the salvage party. He headed back to Pearl [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] before the sinking of the ship. He had no idea about what had happened with the Hammann [Annotator's Note: USS Hammann (DD-412) was assisting alongside Yorktown during the salvage operations when it was struck and sunk by a Japanese torpedo]. He returned to Hawaii and Pearl and Ewa. He was transferred to Air Station Barber's Point. He volunteered for parachute school and made PR-3 [Annotator's Note: Parachute Rigger 3rd Class]. He went to gunnery school at Kaneohe and completed it quickly. He went to turret school and became a turret gunner. He could also read Morse code from his radio school training. Additionally, he was a radar operator. He stayed on the big island for a few weeks prior to assignment to Cowpens [Annotator's Note: USS Cowpens (CV-25)] and going to sea as a parachute rigger. He worked that at night and then flew during the day on airplane crews that were short gunners or radio operators. Kight flew many combat missions. His skipper did not believe in commendations. He felt the men were just doing their jobs. Kight was lucky at the time. He even flew both directions through a typhoon. The plane had to ditch. The pilot and radioman were lost at sea in the heavy wind but Kight survived. He saw a periscope and did not know who it belonged to. His location was reported to a tin can [Annotator's Note: Navy slang for a destroyer] and the next day, Kight was recovered. In late 1944 or early 1945, he was offered flight school. His commanding officer wanted him to fly another mission but he refused. He later learned that flight did not return.

Otis Kight was in flight school as the war was ending. He made it to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] as his SB2C Helldiver [Annotator's Note: Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bomber] squadron was disbanded. He never made his wings. He served in multiple assignments and put in for multiple rates and programs. He was transferred to the Philippines. He served with several officers who had been at Midway [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942] in his ship's [Annotator's Note: Kight was serving aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-5) during the battle] squadrons. In 1954, he was in VT-24 [Annotator's Note: Torpedo Squadron 24 (VT-24)] and then Fighting 21 [Annotator's Note: Fighting Squadron 21 (VF-21)] with its first jets. There were two major explosions on the Bennington [Annotator's Note: USS Bennington (CVA-20)] while he was a lieutenant commander. He was assigned to the Forrestal [Annotator's Note: USS Forrestal (CV-59)] and Air Wing 17 [Annotator's Note: Carrier Air Wing 17] bound for Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975]. The ship blew over Vietnam. He took the cruise to the Mediterranean. He ended up working on jet engines in his last squadron assignment. It was good times. He was aboard the Saratoga [Annotator's Note: USS Saratoga (CV-60)]. He saw crewmen who did not know how to properly operate the equipment. Sound powered telephones will never be replaced. They never need batteries. He retired as a lieutenant commander in September 1971. He saw several friends advance through the ranks as he did.

Otis Kight had a 30 year career in the Navy. He remembers near the end of boot camp when he was given liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] on the base. He accompanied a gunner who was his mentor who advised him not to lose his sense of humor. He always looked at the good times and avoided crying about the other times. Cold water showers in salt water helped prevent skin problems. Fresh water was precious aboard ship. Crews during the war stayed at sea for long durations. Today's sailors think that is a hardship. Mail delivery was sparse. Food supplies ran low particularly when refrigeration services were lost. There was a steak lottery aboard the ship [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)] which was fun for the crew. While at Pearl [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] being repaired and re-provisioned prior to Midway [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942], an incident was reported regarding a fire in the incinerator. That was a good place to have a fire. [Annotator's Note: Kight laughs.]