I Am Tex I am Flight Lieutenant Allen Tex Alcock, former Aussie fighter pilot, who flew for the Yanks in the Battle of for the Pacific off the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, CV-6. I am honored to make this presentation for my Yank friends of the USS Midway Veterans Association and the USS Midway Museum. I am a member of both organizations and proud of it. I am also a lifetime member of the USS Enterprise CV-6 Association, the carrier I flew off in the Battle of the Pacific. I wish I could be there in person with you to experience the sights and sounds of the Battle of Midway in the great new theater aboard the museum. I am proud to have made a donation to the USS Midway Veterans Association of $3,000.00 (Aus.), money that is to go toward completion and preservation of the Battle of Midway Theater at the museum. I am 88 years old, and I live with my lovely wife Avril (Rusty) in Canberra, Australia. My father, Sidney Walter Alcock, was born in Daniel, Wyoming, USA, and moved to Glen Innes, Australia, in 1917, to pursue a career in Electrical Engineering. He met and married my mother, Ada Cartwright, in Glen Innes that same year. But it wasn t until ten years later that I was born,
on March 28, 1927. Yes, my Dad was 100% Yank, so that makes me half Yank, in my book. Between 1927 and 1941, as a young boy growing up, I tried to balance my schooling and my love for flying. Flying won out. I learned to soar like a bird at an early age, at the College of Civil Aviation/Mascot, Australia, with my Dad and Mum s strong support and the training of my flight instructor, Mr. Hungerford, in a six-cylinder Tiger Moth. It was at Mascot that I met my two pilot mates, Jack Heggie and Trevor Green. In 1941, I achieved my goal and was awarded my Wings. So at age 15, I was a pilot! Then the Japs attacked the Yanks at Pearl Harbor sneak attack! And everything changed in a hurry. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made an urgent request for Australian fighter pilots to support the Yanks against the Japs in the Battle of the Pacific. We answered the call, for Australia has always been a great ally with the U.S. Thirty-five of us Aussie pilots volunteered to fly with the Yanks in the Battle of the Pacific. Most of us were just kids, and none of us were members of the RAAF because we were too young to join. I was only 16, but I lied about my age and became 18 so that I could fly. We trained in Hawaii and then in San Diego, logging 150 hours apiece, learning to land and take off on an aircraft
carrier and how to dogfight against the Zekes, our name for the Jap fighter planes. The Yanks called them Zeros. After flight training, it was straight into action for us, flying with the U.S. Marines 12 th Air Division U.S. Marine pilots! There was no time to spare, for we had to stop the Japs before they stopped us. This was war! Their fighters were faster than ours, but we could outfly them. I was assigned to the USS Enterprise, CV-6, while my good mates Jack and Trevor were assigned to the USS Yorktown, CV-5. I will always remember my first carrier landing on the Big E! I nearly didn t make it! The water was rough and the flight deck moved around. But with encouragement I touched down in one piece. What a relief! After that, my confidence was up, and it was no problem. I flew an F-4 Wildcat My New Baby, I called her and soon I was in the thick of the action. Along with Yank marine pilots, we dueled the Jap Zekes in dogfights, flew fighter escort missions for Catalina scout planes, and engaged in aerial combat in the Battle of Coral Sea and in all Pacific aerial actions including the Battle of Midway. The Big E lived up to her title of Hero Ship. She was a great ship, her crew and pilots so well trained. What
pride and bravery from everyone in her crew, in the face of the attacks from the Japs! Flight/Lieutenant (F/T) Tex Alcock, left, going over finer points of naval aviation with flight captain Duke Cunningham at Hawaiian Air Command in Hawaii, early 1942 I had many close calls in these actions. One time a Japanese torpedo bomber exploded at a point when our Wolfpack was no more than 500 feet from this plane. The shrapnel dented my aircraft, and I thought no more about this, as I was OK. The Japanese pilot had blown himself up in his plane rather than to be shot down by us. My nickname Tex came from Tokyo Rose herself, the infamous Japanese-American propagandist who broadcasted popular American music, along with her anti-yank propaganda. On some occasions, I would sing cowboy songs my dad taught me, such as The Dying Cowboy and the
Streets of Laredo. Tokyo Rose listened to my songs over the airwaves. Tex, she would say, are you still with us, for we enjoy the singing, but we will drop you like a stone, along with your friends. 10,000 Zeros are on their way to shoot down the complete American task force. We would jam her broadcasts, but not until we had our daily laugh listening to them. What great entertainment! I didn t fly in the Battle of Midway because I fell victim to a freak accident a few days before the battle. I was speared by a forklift blade as I climbed down from my plane, goring my upper left thigh, and almost pinning me to my plane with one of the forks. I couldn t fly with this injury so I did my part during the Midway battle by fitting the fuses in the 500-pound bombs ready to go up the carrier s lift to the flight deck bombs that were sorely needed by the brave pilots still flying as the battle raged on. Wounded or not, everyone had a job to do! There was no time to feel sorry for yourself. It was survival! Many brave pilots American and Australian alike who flew off aircraft carriers during the Battle in the Pacific lost their lives, and to my neverending sorrow, my very best Australian mates and fellow pilots, Trevor Green and Jack Heggie, were among them. After surviving the sinking of the Yorktown in the Battle of Midway, they were shot down in the Battle of Iwo
Jima several months before the end of the war. By then, I was out of the war and back home in Australia, adjusting to my life. To this day, I anguish over their loss. Therefore, it is with great honor that I make this donation of $3,000.00 (Aus.) to the USS Midway Veterans Association and the USS Midway Museum for the building and preservation of the Battle of Midway Experience Theater. I make this donation in the name of Trevor Green and Jack Heggie, two of the bravest pilots and best mates I have ever known. Thank you for listening to my story. One day I hope to travel to San Diego and see the great Midway Museum and the Midway Theater that is on aboard her.