Friends of Midway Atoll

Preserving, protecting, and restoring the biological diversity and historic resources of Midway Atollal Wildlife Refuge

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Battle of Midway Veteran Colonel John F. Miniclier 1921 – 2025

On December 9, 2025, Colonel Miniclier was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with his Marine Corps wife Margaret Cameron Creel Miniclier and daughter Mary Elizabeth Miniclier. Friends of Midway Atoll (FOMA) member Ann Bell was given permission to share some extraordinary moments of the highest military tribute for a beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather, friend and a forever U.S. Marine Corps comrade.

After family and close friends follow a caisson funeral procession, Colonel John F. Miniclier is moved by a U.S. Marine Casket Team to his final resting site. Notice below the lone horse with a saddle boot facing backward symbolizing the deceased is “looking back” one last time.

Colonel John Miniclier's immediate family members including his daughter, Peggy Miniclier, a former FOMA board member receive personal condolences by several U.S. Marines before their father's casket is lowered.

Military History

Use the right scroll bar to view Battle of Midway Round Table publication or press download from an IPhone.

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August 1941 U.S. Marine Corps Private Miniclier reports to Midway

A copy of the PFC Miniclier's Battery G command orders.
August 21, 1941.

Pearl Harbor and Midway are attacked!

On December 7th, 1941 the Japanese Navy surprise attacked Pearl Harbor. That evening, they also bombarded Midway Atoll in an effort to suppress any air attacks from there on their retiring aircraft carrier fleet. While much smaller and less damaging than the tragic events that day on O'ahu, the shelling of Midway brought the first taste of war to the atoll and to the few hundred men stationed there. This short Friends of Midway Atoll documentary featuring board member Bill Levin and 100-year-old Colonel John Miniclier was released eighty years after the attack on Pearl Harbor and Midway Atoll.

Battle of Midway June 4 – 6, 1942

On June 4, 1942 during the Battle of Midway Private John Miniclier climbed the wooden searchlight control tower at his battle station on Sand Island where he spotted the Japanese planes on their initial approach and looked as if he was right in the pathway of the bombers. One bomb hit a fuel tank nearby. The second hit the laundry building right next to them. He counted around 32 Japanese planes which flew by, their bombs aimed directly at the remaining half of the nearby seaplane hangar.   

June 1942: at the Sand Island power house where PFC Miniclier roomed with CDR John Ford (center) to his left. Friend PFC Don Drake is in the rear at the left.

Seventy years after the Battle of Midway John F. Miniclier Returns

With precision and clarity Colonel John F. Miniclier describes the moments he experienced before, during and after the December 7, 1941 attack on Midway and on June 4, 1942. Photo by; USFWS/Ann Bell
Head of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Scott Smith talks with Colonel Miniclier after the U.S. Navy commemorates the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway. The ceremony was held near the historic communications building where the code breakers were stationed during the Battle of Midway on Pearl Harbor's Ford Island.
70th Battle of Midway Anniversary Ceremony at the Battle of Midway National Memorial 2012 in the background stands his comrade Sergeant Edgar R. Fox. Photo Credit: Dallas Nagata
Colonel John Miniclier meets the former Vice Admiral of the Japanese Imperial Navy during the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway event. In the background right with camera is Miniclier's daughter Peggy. To her right is a formerly crowned Miss Midway who was born and raised on Midway in the 1950's.
Colonel John Miniclier talks about his World War I helmet he wore during the Battle of Midway when he returned to Midway 70 years later. Upon his departure he gifts his helmet to the museum at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge/Battle of Midway National Memorial.
Friends of Midway Atoll Board Member Helen Dunlap, whose father as a U.S. Naval Officer wasstationed on Midway with John Miniclier, share a personal moment during the 70th Annversary ceremonial event on Midway. Sergeant Edgar R. Fox in the background and reflected in the Monument was also a stationed on Midway during the Battle of Midway.
While in cancer treatement FOMA Board Member Ann Bell and John F. Miniclier share a jovial moment comparing their bald heads during the 75th Battle of Midway Anniversary event at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.

Article written by Ann Bell

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