🇺🇸 They survived the Battle of Midway. Eleven days later, Japanese sailors tied heavy metal cans to their bodies and threw them alive into the Pacific. Their names were Frank O’Flaherty and Bruno Gaido. Follow @Vanguard_WW2 to keep the stories of men like them from being forgotten. On June 4, 1942, Ensign Frank W. O’Flaherty (Nevada), 24, climbed into the cockpit of an SBD Dauntless aboard USS Enterprise. Behind him sat his radioman and gunner, Aviation Machinist’s Mate First Class Bruno P. Gaido (Illinois), 26. Gaido had already proved his extraordinary courage: Four months earlier, a damaged Japanese bomber had plunged toward Enterprise. While everyone else ran for cover, Gaido jumped into the rear cockpit of a parked Dauntless and opened fire with its twin machine guns. The bomber clipped the aircraft and crashed into the sea. Gaido calmly climbed out and disappeared below deck, apparently worried that he would be punished for leaving his station. Admiral William "Bull" Halsey found him, and promoted him on the spot! Now, at Midway, O’Flaherty and Gaido flew with Scouting Squadron Six against the Japanese carrier Kaga. They plunged through enemy fighters and antiaircraft fire as American bombs turned the carrier into a blazing wreck. Their own Dauntless was damaged and began losing fuel. They never made it back to Enterprise. O’Flaherty brought the aircraft down on the Pacific. Both men survived the ditching and waited for rescue. But the ship that found them was Japanese. The destroyer Makigumo pulled the two Americans from the water and took them prisoner. For days, they were interrogated while the defeated Japanese fleet withdrew across the Pacific. Then, on June 15, the order came to dispose of them. The Americans’ hands were bound. Water-filled metal cans were tied to their bodies. Then they were thrown overboard alive. The weights dragged Frank O’Flaherty and Bruno Gaido beneath the surface of the Pacific. Their families were initially told only that they were missing. The truth about their murder emerged after the war from Japanese records and testimony. O’Flaherty was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. A destroyer escort, USS O’Flaherty, was later named in his honor. Gaido received the Distinguished Flying Cross. They survived the fighters. They survived the flak. They survived their damaged aircraft and the crash into the ocean. They did not survive captivity. Remember their names: Ensign Frank Woodrow O’Flaherty. Aviation Machinist’s Mate First Class Bruno Peter Gaido.