Victory! In the center of the far reaches of the Pacific, in numerous and widespread engagements lasting from the third to the sixth of June, with carrier-based planes as the spearhead of the attack, the Japanese suffered a crushing defeat. The combined forces of the Navy, Marine Corps and Army in the Hawaiian area had decisively beaten a large part of the enemy fleet, frustrating their powerful move against Midway, which was undoubtedly the foothold they wanted from which to advance on Pearl Harbor. Had they succeeded in trapping and destroying our fleet, Oahu, Panama and our very coast itself would have been part of their larger plans of conquest.

The great victory thus won was the turning point of the Pacific war. The Hawaiian Islands were not reduced to rations of rice and water, in spite of the powerful invasion fleet that composed the Midway expedition. In addition to about eighty surface ships there were numerous enemy submarines on reconnaissance and scouting missions in this mid-Pacific-Hawaiian Islands area.

The Japanese had hoped to seduce our ships to the Aleutian Islands by their landings on the fog enshrouded rocks, but here again they failed. Here they clung to cold and slippery stones, as our submarines knocked off their supply ships one by one. Here one of our underwater vessels alone sank four of their destroyers. Mars marks up the score from day to day.

There are two circumstances which interfered with our chances of turning the rout into a debacle. First, the sudden and unexpected turn about and retreat of the enemy Occupation and Supporting Forces in the night. Naturally they could know the complete loss of all their carriers, before our forces could be sure of their destruction. Second, the weather greatly favored the fleeing fleet. Because of the head start and the advantage of the over-hanging clouds, our forces unfortunately were unable to overtake them, although we persisted for several days after the battle. With no fighter planes, their transports would have been easy prey to our planes bombing from aloft and our subs attacking from beneath the surface of the sea.

Blitzed Oil Storage Tanks, Sand Island, Midway

At the Battle of Midway, all personnel who participated without exception displayed unhesitating devotion to duty, loyalty and courage. This superb spirit in all three services made possible the destructive power that routed the enemy and inflicted the following losses-the four carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu were sunk with the loss of all their planes. A conservative estimate is 275 planes destroyed, 2,400 men lost with these carriers alone.

Three battleships were damaged, one severely-her fate unknown, though from a great oil slick on her supposed position, she may have sunk. The heavy cruiser Mikuma was sunk, four others were damaged severely. One light cruiser was badly hurt by a number of hits and may have gone down. Three destroyers were sunk and possibly a fourth, four transports and cargo ships were hit, one or more sunk. The conservative Navy estimate of the total number of personnel lost by the Japanese is 4,800 men.

These results were achieved at the cost of the Yorktown and the Hammann sunk, and 150 planes lost in action or damaged beyond repair. Our total personnel losses were 92 officers and 215 men. This is the score of the victory at Midway. Thus the brilliant strategy of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, triumphed over His Imperial Japanese Majesty's greatly outnumbering forces.