I often wonder about the pilots that were shot down on both sides of the battle of Midway. While many were killed in Combat many more survived and waited sometimes days for rescue.
I wonder how many survived the crash of their plane but were never found by search and rescue. How many days did Japanese ships search for survivors and how long did the US navy search for survivors after the battle?
I don’t have an exact timeline as to how long rescue operations lasted for both sides. But this is an excellent account of one of the last. https://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20020603/news/605228309
30 hours in the ocean alone in the middle of a major battle and lived to tell about it.
On the Japanese side I have read one account of a US sailor of a US warship approaching the downed airman and once he recognized who it was he committed suicide rather than be picked up as a prisoner of war. However it has never been independently confirmed although there is a lot of truth there as well as Japanese were brainwashed that it was unacceptable to be captured and death was preferable to capture.
A line I always remember from John Ford’s Battle of Midway film:
Eight days. Nine days. 10 days without food and water.