WW2 Battle of Midway Fallen - DSC hero and B-26 co-pilot Garrett McCallister

Lt. Garrett McCallister was the co-pilot on a torpedo carrying B-26 Marauder at the Battle of Midway.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64243944/garrett-h_-mccallister
https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2462/40034_B086854-00149/15629?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/88629291/person/390056526493/facts/citation/1080216037111/edit/record
https://pacificeagles.net/martin-b-26-marauder/ 

Garrett Halliburton McCallister never had a chance to reach 100 years old. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

Last year I was not able to write a profile everyday from September to November because I was studying for the Certified Financial Planner test (I passed!). I feel my project to honor one U.S. serviceman for each day of the war would be incomplete if I left them off. As I have time, I am going back and adding profiles for the days I missed.

Orville was born on October 24, 1918 in Oklahoma. His parents Mark and Ramah were both born in Missouri. His father worked as a farm loan broker and later as a titles abstractor. Garrett had two older sisters. He was a high school tennis star. By 1940 Garrett was still living at home and had completed two years of college at Oklahoma Baptist University.

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in November 1940. He rose to the rank of second lieutenant and was a B-26 Marauder co-pilot in the 18th Reconnaissance Squadron, 22nd Bombardment Group. 

Lt. McCallister was a co-pilot of one of four B-26 Marauders sent to Midway Island on May 29, 1942. They were specially equipped to drop torpedoes. They had never practiced making a torpedo run.

Accompanied by six TBF Avengers, the four B-26 Marauders were the very first American planes to attack the Japanese carrier force. They got word that the Japanese carrier force had been spotted ant took off around 6 am on June 4, 1942. They saw the inbound Japanese airplanes on the way to bomb Midway. They spotted the Japanese carriers just after 7 am. The carriers were protected by 29 Zero fighters flown by world class pilots. There was no American fighter coverage. The B-26 made a run on the Japanese carrier Akagi. The Japanese swarmed the American bombers and no torpedoes hit any ships. The Japanese shot down five of the Avengers and two of the Marauders, including Lt. McCallister's plane.

Lt. McCallister was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Here is his citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Second Lieutenant (Air Corps) Garrett Halliburton McCallister (ASN: 0-388997), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Co-Pilot of a B-26 Medium Bomber of the 18th Reconnaissance Squadron, 22d Bombardment Group (M), FAR EAST Air Force (Detached), in aerial action against enemy surface forces on 4 June 1942, during an engagement near Midway Island. 

Lieutenant McCallister displayed extraordinary heroism during a torpedo-bombing mission against the Japanese Navy. The success of the mission was dependent entirely upon the skill, courageousness and unfaltering devotion to duty of the crew members of the airplanes participating, who unhesitatingly entered into the attack at great personal risk to their lives in the face of concentrated gunfire of Japanese Naval forces and fighter planes. During this, the first torpedo attack ever carried out by Army Air Forces, the airplane on which Lieutenant McCallister was co-pilot was lost. 

The personal courage and zealous devotion to duty displayed by Second Lieutenant McCallister on this occasion, at the cost of his life, have upheld the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Far East Air Force, and the United States Army Air Forces.

His cenotaph memorial is at Resthaven Memorial Cemetery in Shawnee, Oklahoma. His name is on the Honolulu Memorial.

Thank you Lt. McCallister for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Garrett.

On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!

I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.

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WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

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“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org