William Roy had served in Battleship Division 5 in the Atlantic on the battleship Arkansas [Annotator's Note: USS Arkansas (BB-33)] for three years prior to assignment to the Yorktown [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)]. Assigned to the Arkansas' engineering department, Roy's collateral duty was as ship's photographer. Prior to assignment to the Yorktown in Norfolk, Virginia just before the Pearl Harbor attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], he was transferred to photo school in Pensacola, Florida. He took up photography before his service while working for a professional photographer in high school. His employer had been on the battleship West Virginia [Annotator's Note: USS West Virginia (BB-48)] and inspired Roy to join the Navy. Roy spent three years in the Florida National Guard in a heavy machine gun company. He had his fill of digging foxholes only to move out and have to repeat the process. His sergeant stressed the urgency of doing so to alleviate the danger associated with drawing enemy fire while firing his machine gun. It was 1939 and Europe was embroiled in war so Roy opted to enlist in the Navy. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, the Yorktown was at Norfolk without its aircraft. There was confusion as to the best location to move the carrier for protection from German submarines. Eventually, the ship was loaded with supplies at the pier and made its way through the Panama Canal. While there, the ship's identification markings were painted over. Japanese submarines on the Pacific side of the Canal had to be chased away by destroyers dropping depth charges [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum] and a PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat] circling overhead. Yorktown sailed to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] where she took on a contingent of Marines bound for the defense of the island of Samoa [Annotator's Note: American Samoa]. Wake Island had fallen at that time [Annotator's Note: the American forces on Wake Island surrendered on 23 December 1941]. News of events was sparse as radio silence was required. When the carrier entered Pearl Harbor, it was ominous. The large beautiful battleships, like the one Roy had served on, were sunk or damaged and the odor of death hung in the air. The captain did a magnificent job of berthing the carrier.

William Roy [Annotator's Note: aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-5) as the aircraft carrier's photographer] left Pearl Harbor as the ship committed to 101 days of steady steaming. The mission was to harass enemy positions on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands according to Admiral Nimitz's [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet] directives. Roy flew in a TBD-1 Devastator [Annotator's Note: Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bomber] as an observer, bombardier and photographer. He flew over the enemy islands to photograph the installations. The Yorktown's objective was to destroy enemy communications and logistics such as fuel tanks as well as just harass the Japanese. That was to be done without directly contacting the enemy fleet. Following those missions, Yorktown proceeded to the Coral Sea area. A major Japanese invasion force was gathering at Tulagi Harbor [Annotator's Note: Tulagi Harbor, Tulagi Island, Solomon Islands]. There were no formal maps of that location. Someone got a map of the harbor from a book and gave it to Roy. He photographed it and made over 100 images for the pilots to use in their attack on the facility. Unfortunately, the Mark 13 torpedoes [Annotator's Note: Mark 13 aerial torpedo] were ineffective against their targets. The fish [Annotator's Note: slang for torpedo] had been set to run in deeper water plus, the ordnance had inherent problems that caused them to not explode on contact with enemy vessels. This was known but not addressed by the top authorities. Following Tulagi, Yorktown searched for the Japanese carriers in the area. There were three. The light carrier Shoho plus the heavy fleet carriers Zuikaku and Shokaku were nearby. All carriers were searching for their opponents. Roy was on deck during these operations. The Yorktown had just refueled from the Neosho [Annotator's Note: USS Neosho (AO-23)] and after taking on fuel, the Yorktown separated from Neosho. The oiler left, escorted by the destroyer Sims [Annotator's Note: USS Sims (DD-409)]. Later, the Japanese attacked both American vessels and the Sims was sunk. The Yorktown immediately launched a strike force which sank the Shoho resulting in the famous words "strike one flattop." The flight decks of the Zuikaku and Shokaku were damaged during the action. That resulted in the loss of many skilled Japanese pilots. Had that not occurred, a month later, those three carriers might have been part of the assault on Midway Island [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942] making the odds against the American forces very extreme. At Midway, the three American carriers, Yorktown, Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] and Hornet [Annotator's Note: USS Hornet (CV-8)], would have faced seven enemy carriers. The end result of Midway would have likely been much different. Roy was trained to handle the situation at Coral Sea [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Coral Sea, 4 to 8 May 1942]. None of the ship's force was panicked. Roy had permission from Captain Buckmaster [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Elliot Buckmaster; captain of the USS Yorktown (CV-5)] to be on the bridge with him and his messenger. The Captain told Roy to stay out of his way as he ran from port to starboard. When he observed attacking aircraft, he gave orders to maneuver the ship. His seamanship was superb. As the bombs fell, he gave orders for "hard to port" [Annotator's Note: hard left turn] or "hard to starboard" [Annotator's Note: hard right turn]. Nevertheless, one bomb hit and reached the fourth level which killed the repair party mustered there. There were near strikes which resulted in damages on the ship that caused problems. Roy had never seen torpedoes dropped to destroy his ship. As one fell, he was frightened. He heard orders to adjust course hard starboard or hard port. Eight torpedoes were avoided. Roy was impressed by the excellent, skilled seamanship of Buckmaster who succeeded in "combing the wake" of eight torpedoes. The Lexington [Annotator's Note: USS Lexington (CV-2)] had been a former battlecruiser and was less maneuverable and could not alter course as well as Yorktown. It suffered more damage with horrendous subsequent internal explosions. Captain Sherman [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Fredrick Sherman; captain of the USS Lexington (CV-2)] decided to abandon ship. Roy, on Yorktown, was close enough for him to photograph some of the events. Additionally, other photographers on other vessels captured the situation. The Lexington was torpedoed later that night so that it would not fall into enemy hands. During the Japanese attack on the Yorktown, Roy was on the bridge when an enemy fighter strafed the area where he was positioned. The Captain's chief petty officer was injured in the incident but Captain Buckmaster and Roy took cover and were not hurt. The torpedo bombers and the fighters both strafed the carrier decks.

[Annotator's Note: William Roy was aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-5) and worked as the ship's photographer as she returned from the Battle of Coral Sea, 4 to 8 May 1942.] The ship was capable of conducting flight operations but was leaking oil, plus she was worn out from 101 days of continuous duty at sea. The planes were worn out also. The SBD Douglas dive bombers [Annotator's Note: Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber] were photographed by Roy from the flight deck during takeoffs and landings. Their bomb load had to be reduced from 1,000 to 500 pound bombs so that they could safely takeoff from the carrier's deck. The ship's refrigeration system was knocked out so fresh food was not available. Roy subsisted on a rice diet for each meal during the day. The officers managed to have steaks but the crew had none. In his photo lab, Roy had fresh water and air conditioning. He even managed fresh water baths on occasion. He screened old movies of plane wrecks that occurred prior to the war on the carrier. The carrier's crew was upbeat and in fighting spirit during Coral Sea. The direct bomb hit and the near misses did not deter the ship's company during the fight. That was despite the fact that a repair party had been wiped out by the direct hit. Seeing the Lexington [Annotator's Note: USS Lexington (CV-2)] in her death throes was difficult to observe. Men were going over the sides while the ship was afire amid horrendous explosions tossing aircraft overboard. The men of Yorktown felt terrible while watching the mighty warship suffering from her fatal injuries. Their ship would suffer the same fate at Midway [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942]. When the Yorktown reached Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii], the Fleet Photo Officer took Roy's photographs of Coral Sea off Yorktown in case she was damaged or sunk later. Roy had developed a documentary on the battle action to show his shipmates, especially the engine room crew who heard only explosions and saw none of the conflict. Roy thought it would be a morale booster. When the film from the bridge was removed at Pearl Harbor, he lost possession of it and never learned what happened to it. Roy went below to take pictures of the battle damage. Those killed by the direct bomb hit had been removed prior to him reaching the impacted areas. Bulkheads were blown out but the ship's operations were not altered. Nevertheless, the ship's strength was at risk. Roy did not see the civilian workers come aboard the Yorktown to assess damage repairs with the carrier's own engineering officers. With the perilous condition of the ship and overworked condition, the estimate was three months to fully repair her. Admiral Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet] came aboard and said only three days were available, not three months. The crew, including Roy, loaded supplies aboard as the repair workers did their best to patch the damaged carrier. The ship reached Pearl Harbor on 27 May 1942 and departed on 30 May. A tragedy struck on 30 May as the carrier was taking on its aircraft and the associated aircrews. The torpedo planes came in first then the dive bombers followed last by the 25 fighters. The new F-4F4 fighters [Annotator's Note: Grumman F-4F Wildcat fighter aircraft] replaced the old F-4F3. The newer version of the fighter had six guns with less ammunition and more armor. It resulted in them being a little slower. The new guns had to be cleaned, installed and bore sighted aboard the Yorktown after the fighters had landed. The last pilot to land was Lieutenant Commander Don Lovelace[Annotator's Note: US Navy Lieutenant Commander Donald Alexander Lovelace] who was chosen to have his own fighter squadron but requested to fly with his friend, Jimmy Thach [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Admiral John Smith Thach] one last time. Thach was famous for the defensive maneuver used against the Japanese called the "Thach weave" [Annotator's Note: aerial combat tactic developed by later US Navy Admiral John S. "Jimmy" Thatch]. The ensign who was to land prior to Lovelace was waved off and circled to come in immediately after Lovelace. That pilot again came in high and fast and landed on Lovelace's plane killing the Lieutenant Commander. After Lovelace was removed to the morgue, his plane was pushed overboard. Roy captured the event on film. The ensign never flew in the fighter squadron again. The whole episode had a negative effect on morale before the battle even started. On 30 May, Yorktown headed to Midway.

While working in the photo lab [Annotator's Note: aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5)], William Roy had no indication of the significance of the impending Battle of Midway. Admiral Fletcher [Annotator's Note: US Navy Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher] did not open his orders until the carrier was out to sea. Only then did Fletcher know of the destination being "Point Luck" [Annotator's Note: the code name for the rendezvous location for the three American carriers to be engaged in the battle]. Because of Yorktown's previous battle injuries at Coral Sea [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Coral Sea, 4 to 8 May 1942], it was kept separated from the Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] and Hornet [Annotator's Note: USS Hornet (CV-8)] so as to not handicap their flight operations. There was a distance of 25 miles between Yorktown and the other two carriers. A PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat] first located the enemy forces, but there was confusion about the exact location. Consequently, the squadrons from the Enterprise and Hornet had difficulty locating their adversaries on the morning of 4 June. The American torpedo squadrons in particular suffered severe casualties when they attacked the Japanese ships. Of the Hornet's onboard torpedo aircrews, only Ensign Gay [Annotator's Note: US Navy Ensign George Gay] survived the enemy defensive fire. There was a detachment from the Hornet's torpedo squadron that flew off Midway Atoll in addition to the carrier based main force. When Roy heard the alert of incoming Japanese bombers, he positioned himself on the signal bridge with its clearer view to capture the battle. The first attack was by dive bombers. The tactics of the two opposing dive bombing forces differed. The Japanese came in with instantaneous bombs to clear the topside gun crews defending the American carrier. The Americans instead attacked the operational areas of the enemy ship with armor piercing bombs. The goal of the American pilots was to hit the engineering spaces of the ship to knock it out. The first Japanese hit on the Yorktown was aft of the island near the quadruple 1.1 guns [Annotator's Note: quad mounted 1.1 inch, 75 caliber antiaircraft machine cannons; nicknamed the Chicago Piano]. That decimated the gun crew. The second bomb landed near Roy and reached below deck to the engine room where it exploded and extinguished all the boilers. The third bomb hit near the forward elevator on the ship. The fire that was created burned for two days. Roy was still on the signal bridge filming the action when two Japanese torpedo planes launched their ordnance and struck the carrier amidship below the waterline. Using deadly "Long Lance" torpedoes [Annotator's Note: Japanese Type 93, 610mm torpedo], the enemy seriously injured the already battered Yorktown. The port side explosion tore off the catwalk where 20mm guns [Annotator's Note: Oerlikon 20mm antiaircraft automatic cannon] were manned by Marines who were blown overboard. Roy was knocked over but not injured. The dive bombing of Yorktown was in the morning while the torpedo attack was in the afternoon with a lull between the two. The ship was not able to power its galley so the Executive Officer, Commander Dixie Kiefer [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Commodore Dixie Kiefer], had boxes of candy bars distributed to the crew for food. During the interlude, the boilers were brought back online, the wounded were cared for, the flight deck damage was repaired so that defensive aircraft took off just as the torpedo planes did their run-in. The ship had not gained sufficient speed to effectively avoid the torpedo attack. After two torpedo hits, the ship took on a list between 26 to 28 degrees. Roy climbed down from his position on the signal bridge and took a series of pictures. He went to his photo lab but it was burned out. Roy grabbed a couple of cameras in the lab and abandoned ship. The concern was that the ship was going to capsize. The ship was dead in the water with no power or communication. Word had to be passed around to abandon ship. The wounded had been placed in motor launches but lack of ship's power meant they had to be manually lowered to life rafts. Roy left his camera on the hanger deck and went to aid a man who could not swim. The life rafts were full of wounded. Roy aided those who were having trouble staying afloat. The oil was thick in the water and gave off a gas making it difficult to breathe. Additionally, the seawater choked those in the water. The ship acted as a sail and turned in the water with the winds. Not being able to get away from the ship, Roy attempted to work his way to the stern of the ship. The iron and barnacles on the side of the ship tore away at his skin. As he neared the stern of the ship, Captain Buckmaster [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Elliot Buckmaster; Captain of the USS Yorktown (CV-5)] shouted for help as he was losing a sailor who could not swim. Some of the stronger swimmers went to their Captain's aid. The destroyers trying to rescue them often reacted to false air alerts and sailed away from the men in the water. They did return with their motor whale boats to continue rescue operations. Roy lost track of time. A motor whale boat trailing lines came by and Roy grabbed a line. He was towed to the destroyer Hammann [Annotator's Note: USS Hammann (DD-412)] and was pulled aboard covered with oil. The life jackets were a hinderance when covered with oil. He got rid of his and went forward on the destroyer. The area was full of sailors so he went below deck.

William Roy went below on the Hammann [Annotator's Note: USS Hammann (DD-412)]. Roy found sailors being operated on and some in shock. There was no more room down below on the ship so he found a potato storage locker and spent the night there. The next day, he cleaned up and took what clothes he could from the Hammann's crew. They had already given much of their extra clothes to the survivors of the Lexington [Annotator's Note: USS Lexington (CV-2)] after Coral Sea [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Coral Sea, 4 to 8 May 1942]. Captain Buckmaster [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Elliot Buckmaster; Captain of the USS Yorktown (CV-5)] was transferred to the cruiser Astoria [Annotator's Note: USS Astoria (CA-34)] where he joined Admiral Fletcher [Annotator's Note: US Navy Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher]. Fletcher transferred command to Admiral Sprague [Annotator's Note: US Navy Admiral Clifton Albert Frederick "Ziggy" Sprague] with the Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] and Hornet [Annotator's Note: USS Hornet (CV-8)] group. Prior to the battle [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942], Roy had secured much of his film in waterproof containers. He carried those containers of film with him under his lifejacket when he abandoned ship. The film was processed in the photo lab on the Astoria and Roy did not see the output because of security reasons in the larger photo lab. Roy would work as a stevedore and help bury dead bodies during that time. On Hammann, a call was made for salvage party volunteers to attempt to save the Yorktown. The next day a group of officers and enlisted returned to the ship. Yorktown was being slowly towed by the Vireo [Annotator's Note: USS Vireo (AM-52)], a converted minesweeper. Yorktown had drifted 50 miles from where she was abandoned. The Hammann tied up on the starboard side of Yorktown. The first order of business was to extinguish fires forward near the bomb, torpedo, and gasoline storage compartments. The effort involved manhandling 35 pound CO2 bottles [Annotator's Note: Carbon Dioxide fire extinguisher bottles] on the tilted deck to the burning holds. The Hammann provided pumps, water and electrical power for the salvage operation. Roy worked the fire from the hanger deck but men went down closer to the inferno to extinguish it. He assisted in cutting away the five inch guns [Annotator's Note: Mark 12 five Inch, 38 caliber gun] from the port side of the carrier to reduce weight on that low side. After one gun was removed, he helped with removing spare aircraft from the hanger deck overhead. Before the planes were pushed overboard, Roy jokingly asked Captain Buckmaster if he could have one of the planes. The Captain agreed but Roy's plane is at the bottom of the ocean. Roy went to the flight deck and assisted with burial of the dead. The critical personal effects and information that was collected was lost when the Yorktown was later torpedoed again. Good progress was being made in the salvage efforts. The engine room crew thought boilers could be brought online and power could be produced. There were optimism concerning saving the Yorktown.

William Roy [Annotator's Note: as a member of the salvage crew on the USS Yorktown (CV-5) on 6 June 1942] witnessed the Japanese submarine I-168 under Commander Tanabe [Annotator's Note: Imperial Japanese Navy Commander Tanabe Yahachi] penetrate a four destroyer screen and fire four torpedoes at the Yorktown. The Japanese submarine had tracked Yorktown for two days. The men of Yorktown were initially critical of the screening destroyers' efforts until they discovered that the water temperatures had an adverse effect on their sonar readings. The first torpedo split the Hammann [Annotator's Note: USS Hammann (DD-412] in half with the loss of many lives. The sinking destroyer had its depth charges detonate causing even more deaths and reverberation of the wounded carrier. Two torpedoes struck the Yorktown and it rocked and rolled again. The feeling of optimism of saving Yorktown persevered. The Vireo [Annotator's Note: USS Vireo (AM-52)] cut the towlines to Yorktown. Captain Buckmaster [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Elliot Buckmaster; Captain of the USS Yorktown (CV-5)] performed sea burial rites for the dead recovered from the sea. Roy boarded the Balch [Annotator's Note: USS Balch (DD-363)]. He returned to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. Roy is troubled by revisionist historians who question the history of the battle while others such as Jon Parshall [Annotator's Note: Jonathan Parshall; American author; coauthored with Anthony Tully the seminal work on Midway entitled "Shattered Sword"] have gone to the Japanese records to confirm from their side what happened. Others say Admiral Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet] should have done things differently. The battle was very significant in the history of naval warfare. Luck played a big part in the American victory against a much larger Japanese fleet. The skills of men such as Commander Dick Best [Annotator's Note: US Navy Lieutenant Commander Richard Halsey Best] played a critical role in the victory. He scored a 1,000 pound direct hit on Akagi [Annotator's Note: Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Akagi] carrier in the morning and did the same on Hiryu [Annotator's Note: Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Hiryu], the last Japanese carrier, in the afternoon. Commander Best was put up for the Medal of Honor [Annotator's Note: the Medal of Honor is the highest award a United States service member can receive who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor] but Nimitz and Admiral King [Annotator's Note: US Navy Admiral Ernest Joseph King; Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations] had conflicts and Best was denied the highest decoration. Likewise, Rochefort [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Joseph John Rochefort] did not receive recognition for his contribution. King's intelligence people were not as good as they were thought to be by their commander. Nimitz was a great strategic leader at planning and directing but he did not command during the actual fighting like Halsey [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey] or McCain [Annotator's Note: Admiral John Sidney "Slew" McCain]. Not being a combat admiral, Nimitz did not garner the same acclaim as those admirals he commanded. Nevertheless, Nimitz was one of the greatest admirals. The Americans won the Battle of Midway [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942] despite the superior skills, experience and training of the enemy pilots, as well as having to face superior forces arrayed against them.

[Annotator's Note: William Roy reviews a series of photographs he captured during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. He served as the the USS Yorktown (CV-5) photographer. Roy makes comments about each of his photographs for the interviewer.] Roy was on the hanger deck right after the bomb hit. Roy shot a photo of the firefighters risking their lives to extinguish a fire before it reached aircraft loaded with 1,000 pound bombs nearby. The next photograph is of a somewhat confused crew after the torpedoes have hit. The crewmen are moving in various directions with some headed to the location where the gun crews were lost. There are men with lifejackets already on. It was difficult to walk on the deck. Confusion was not prevalent on the ship. There was a degree of calm as the crew went to work on their perceived priorities resulting from being struck. They knew the ship was in serious condition even though there was no loud speaker communication. Abandon ship had not been ordered so the men are not hurrying in the picture. There was no sense of urgency in Roy or the others aboard ship. Everything stopped on the ship. No one was shouting orders or blowing whistles. The next photograph shows bomb damage and shrapnel impacts on the hanger deck. Those types of damage were relegated to the aft end of the hanger deck where the bomb struck. Another photo shows the island aft where .50 caliber water-cooled machine guns [Annotator's Note: M1921 Browning .50 caliber water cooled machine gun] had been hastily installed at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] while Yorktown was being patched before Midway. The urgency to provide self-defense for the ship even resulted in mess attendants and sailors being issued 1906 rifles [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber Model 1903, or M1903, Springfield bolt action rifle] to fire at enemy aircraft. Roy took three photos of the USS Hammann (DD-412) after it was struck by a torpedo and split it in two. After it sank, the Hammann's depth charges detonated and rocked the Yorktown. Men on the Yorktown were thrown about from the concussion. The men in the water were all gone after the explosion on 6 June 1942. On the morning of 7 June, Roy observed the Yorktown on an even keel and thought the ship could be saved. As he prepared to take a photo, the ship rolled to port. He then shot photos showing the damage on the bottom of the carrier. Other photos reviewed are typical flight deck pictures of aircraft activity. There were 70 airplanes on the ship and much activity occurred as a result. There is a photo of Lieutenant junior grade Bill Leonard [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Rear Admiral William Nicholas Leonard] taken the morning of the attack. Leonard would become an admiral later in his Navy career.

[Annotator's Note: William Roy reviews a series of photographs he captured during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. He served as the the USS Yorktown (CV-5) photographer. Roy makes comments about each of his photographs for the interviewer.] Roy came down from his battle station on the signal bridge to the flight deck to start taking pictures of the damage. The ship had been struck by three bombs and one photograph shows much of the battle damage and activity to ameliorate the impacts. Men are working on the flight deck penetration. The repair crews knew exactly what to do and had the tools to do it. Likewise, the fire and rescue people were well-trained and responded effectively. The ship was dead in the water at the time. The Portland [Annotator's Note: USS Portland (CA-33)] was standing by off the side of the Yorktown. The first bomb hit destroyed almost all the 1.1 multiple gun mount [Annotator's Note: quadruple 1.1 inch antiaircraft machine cannons; nicknamed the Chicago Piano] aft of the island. The flight deck was patched within 25 minutes and flight operations resumed. Commander Dixie Kiefer [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Commodore Dixie Kiefer] oversaw the operation using timbers to prop up the deck. Roy photographed the area where the 1.1 gun mount crewmen were killed. The pictures were censored and even Roy never saw them. Aircraft in the overhead of the hanger deck were new spares. Firefighting was going on in the proximity. A water curtain on the hanger deck effectively sealed off inflamed areas of the deck. Roy worked his way to the photo lab under the superstructure. He had no flash bulbs and took pictures with available light. He took a photo of the Neosho [Annotator's Note: USS Neosho (AO-23)] in April 1942 when the Marshall and Gilbert Islands were attacked by the Yorktown. Ensign Goldsmith [Annotator's Note: US Navy Ensign George H. Goldsmith] from the Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] landed on the Yorktown. His aircraft was severely damaged and he still managed to land to save his wounded gunner [Annotator's Note: Aviation Radioman 1st Class J. W. Patterson, Jr.]. The Japanese returned a second time to attack Yorktown. The enemy assumed it was an undamaged carrier. Roy took several photographs when the Yorktown capsized and sank on the morning of 7 June 1942 after Captain Buckmaster [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Elliot Buckmaster; Captain of the USS Yorktown (CV-5)] had called for him. The photographs showed the significant underwater damage to the carrier and were used when Dr. Ballard [Annotator's Note: US Navy Commander Robert Duane Ballard; professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island and underwater archaeologist] undertook his expedition to find the ship's remains [Annotator's Note: in May 1998]. Roy photographed the ship as it rolled over with an official sinking time being 0701 [Annotator's Note: one minute after seven o'clock in the morning] on 7 June 1942. Roy was a member of the salvage party that boarded the Yorktown on 6 June. The party included 15 to 19 officers and 141 enlisted volunteers. Each man was approved by Captain Buckmaster. Roy photographed a new torpedo plane that was lowered from the overhead of the hanger deck to be pushed overboard during the salvage operation. The plane was symbolically given to Roy by Captain Buckmaster before it was shoved overboard. It rests on the bottom of the ocean.

[Annotator's Note: William Roy reviews a series of motion pictures clips he captured during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. He served as the ship's photographer aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-5). Roy makes comments about the filmed action for the interviewer.] Roy views a torpedo plane attacking from a distance. On the morning of 4 June during the Battle of Midway, Yorktown picked up enemy aircraft coming in from 35 miles away. Roy positioned himself with a 35mm motion picture camera on the signal bridge. The dive bombers attacked the ship while five inch guns [Annotator's Note: five inch 38 caliber naval gun] fired on them. The 20mm [Annotator's Note: Oerlikon 20mm antiaircraft automatic cannon] and 1.1 guns [Annotator's Note: quad mounted 1.1 inch machine cannon; nicknamed the Chicago Piano] were visible but the .50 calibers [Annotator's Note: M1921 Browning .50 caliber water cooled machine gun] were only visible with tracers. He filmed destroyers making flank speed alongside. Some images are not recognizable to Roy. A dive bomber attacked the ship as antiaircraft fire concentrated on it. Normally, just gun crews were on the flight deck. Roy was an exception. His normal position to film landings was between the number two and three wires [Annotator's Note: aircraft carriers have multiple arresting wires to secure aircraft as they land]. Roy filmed many landings. Ensign Tom Cheek [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Lieutenant (junior grade) Tom Fred Cheek] flipped his fighter over upon landing. It ended up in that position on the hanger deck when the ship was sunk. The Ensign was mad at Roy when he put a camera in his face after he flipped his plane. [Annotator's Note: some of the subsequently presented filmed images are not familiar to Roy]. Roy took pictures of the gun crews after they were killed. Some of the images had not been seen by Roy since he took them. The scene of the dead was not provided to the public. Roy had not seen the film since he captured the images.

William Roy captured film of Japanese bombers attacking the ship [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)] that was not yet in the files of The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana]. Some of what he viewed at other venues was on poor quality video tape. Those images were accessible through the National Archives [Annotator's Note: National Archives and Records Administration, United States government agency]. Some of the images Roy took were not seen by him afterward. He turned over his film and photographs to the cruiser Astoria [Annotator's Note: USS Astoria (CA-34)] and he was not able to see them after they were processed. He was unable to view them because other images of a sensitive nature were being processed in the same lab. The Fleet Photo Officer at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] told Roy that he would rather he took smiling images of sailors rather than grisly photos of death and destruction. The more positive images would better promote the Navy. Roy has negative impressions he would prefer not to commit to the record. When Captain Buckmaster [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Elliot Buckmaster; Captain of the USS Yorktown (CV-5)] was on the destroyer Balch [Annotator's Note: USS Balch (DD-363)], he asked the skipper of the ship to take him through the flotsam [Annotator's Note: flotsam, the floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo] multiple times. The destroyer's commanding officer did so until he finally refused to do so. They could hear bulkheads bursting as the carrier sank deeper into the ocean.