We made air attacks on the Japanese anchorage, sinking and damaging several vessels. However, the Japanese were alerted to the fact that American carriers were nearby.

Lexington did launch its air group when a Japanese carrier was reported.

The Japanese invaded Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands, on May 4.

In basic training we had been told to watch out for Japanese spies.

We began intercepting Japanese radio transmissions, which indicated the two forces were very close to each other. We found out later that we were moving in opposite directions and passed each other by 32 miles.

If the bag had, in fact, contained the explosive device that was anticipated, the bomb could have detonated several times over in the hour that the bag sat there.