On June 6, 1942, the Battle of Midway raged in the Pacific Ocean. Among the U.S. Navy pilots engaged in the fight against Japan was Columbus native Lt. Harlan Rockey Dickson.

For his role in the battle off the Midway Atoll, Dickson received a Gold Star - which represents a second Navy Cross, the highest combat medal awarded by the Navy - for "extraordinary heroism and distinguished service."

Dickson's plane was part of a scouting squadron that located four Japanese aircraft carriers that were destroyed by U.S. forces.

The U.S. victory was the turning point of the war in the Pacific. The Navy ended up naming a ship for the Ohioan - the USS Harlan R. Dickson, a 2,200-ton destroyer launched in December 1944.

Born in 1914, Dickson graduated from the Naval Academy in 1936. His first Navy Cross was for "courageous perseverance in dive bombing attacks against Japanese forces" in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

He died in a plane crash off the California coast in February 1944.

- Rebecca Goodman

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call (513) 768-8361.