A Voice From the Past

Excerpts from the “Lost Letter of Midway,” newly discovered recollections of Vice Adm. Stanhope Cotton Ring, who wrote in 1946 about the early hours of the pivotal World War II Battle of Midway, June 4-6, 1942:

Early on the morning of 4 June we received word that the Japanese attacking force had been located and that initial attack on Midway had been made. Course from Hornet’s position to the enemy was plotted and immediate preparations made to launch the Air Group.

It is . . . my understanding that USS Enterprise Group [which engaged the Japanese carriers] was favored with later information of the whereabouts of the enemy than was the Hornet Group. Although communications in 1942 were most unreliable between air and surface craft, even though Hornet might have broken radio silence to keep the Group informed of the latest developments, there was no assurance that such information would have been received by the Group.

My change of Air Group course to the south was based entirely on my estimate of the situation (which proved faulty) and not on definite information of the enemy movements. . . . VT-8 [Ring’s torpedo bombers] and Enterprise Group made contact with the enemy, north of the point at which I turned south.

I then resumed my dead-reckoning course to intercept Hornet, proceeding singly at 20,000 feet. Since oxygen supply was failing, and I began to notice the effects of lack of oxygen, I dropped gradually to 10,000 feet. . . . After about 4.5 hours in the air (and having assured Parker, my radioman, that a water landing could be easily effected), I sighted the white wakes of a Task Force at high speed. Further investigation revealed it to be our own force.

Reports concerning the enemy were meager on 5 June, but in midafternoon contact report was received on an enemy carrier “disappearing to the westward into a front.” . . . On the way out on the search we flew over the scene of 4 June attack on Japanese [carriers] and observed many survivors in the water.

During the forenoon of 6 June we received a contact report on an enemy force. . . . Hornet Air Group was launched to search and attack. . . . During these operations “first name” calls were used, so that when VB-8 which was on the left flank of our scouting line sighted the enemy, Lt. Cmdr. Johnson called on the voice radio: “Stanhope from Robert, enemy below on port bow.” As an indication of how alert the Japanese were, in a very short time the following message in very oriental tone came over the air: “Stanhope from Robert, return to base.”

In executing our dive-bombing attack, everyone did much better than he had [in a futile attack] the day before, when buck fever probably had us.

We had lost Yorktown, [destroyer] Hammann, VT-8 and many other pilots, but the Japanese had suffered heavily. Undoubtedly the cream of their naval aviation was destroyed in the sinking of their four carriers. We felt then (as was later proved) that we had dealt the Japanese a decisive defeat.