Robert E. Dixon

Robert E. Dixon (1906 – October 21, 1981) was a United States Navy admiral and aviator, whose radio message "Scratch one flat top" during the Battle of the Coral Sea became quickly famous, as his unit of dive bombers contributed to the first sinking of a Japanese aircraft carrier in the Pacific theater of the Second World War. Dixon would go on to serve on four other carriers during the war and commanded the USS Valley Forge during the Korean War. Dixon was a 1927 graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy and was awarded the Navy Cross for his success in the Battle of the Coral Sea.