Let the semi-famous Gunny R. Lee Ermy get some truly basic stuff wrong, and it's a thousand and one reasons why it's not his fault.
Bingo!!!
i don't have a degree in history; but my BBA and two post grad degrees mean something.
Seriously, i've been a history bug since about 1944. To me accuracy and truth are everything when it comes to history. Forty years ago the History Channel did several series on WWII. All those documentaries were very accurate.
Much of the movie stuff about the Midway battle is terrible; it's not even B grade movie quality. One of the problems stems from the fact that Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher was not well liked nor is much known about his operational style. His memoirs were never published.
In the 60s and early 70s i spent two tours at NOS Indian Head, MD. Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher resided quietly at his historic estate, Araby, at Mason Springs, Charles county, MD. Many of Admiral Fletcher's papers were lost in combat and he refused to re-construct them.
Admiral Fletcher refused an interviewed during the writing of
The US Navy History of WWII. . Not to worry, they just wrote him out. This refusal ticked off some historians who simple ignored him.
IMO: Ermey has been over his head for years.