OSU
History Minute - June 23, 2000
Number
1 of a 12 part series: Honoring Oregon Staters who
died in WWII
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Elden,
as pictured in
The Beaver, 1926-27.
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Ralph
Waldo Elden was an engineering student
at Oregon State for one year-1927- and was
a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
Born
July 10, 1907, in New York City, he graduated
from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis,
Md, in 1931, and immediately began a distinguished
military career that would end in tragedy,
June 6, 1942, at the Battle of Midway.
On
this day, Lt. Elden was serving as executive
officer (second-in-command) of the USS Hammann
(DD-412), a destroyer. At approximately 31
minutes past 1 p.m., Japanese submarine I-168
fired four torpedoes in the direction of the
aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, which at that
time was steaming in close proximity to Hammann.
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Realizing
the giant flattop was in immediate danger, Hammann
began firing its five-inch guns at the “water
tracks” of the deadly missiles in hopes of
exploding one or several before they had a chance
to do nasty work. Too late. The first torpedo hit
Elden's destroyer, splitting her in half. The next
two traveled underneath DD-412 to strike and doom
the Yorktown.
 |
| Survivors
of USS Hammann aboard USS Bentham, June 7, 1942.
Photo taken from pg. 282, Gordon W. Prange,
Miracle at Midway. Photographer unknown. |
The
explosion aboard Hammann threw its Captain, Commander
Arnold E. True, against a desk, breaking a rib and
rendering him speechless. With sign language, he
turned command over to Lt. Elden, who immediately
ordered “abandon ship,” then supervised
the evacuation of the entire vessel. As the Hammann
plunged to its death in very deep water, depth charges
(explosives used in anti-submarine warfare) began
exploding beneath hundreds of stunned sailors fighting
for their lives on the ocean's surface. Thirteen
officers and 72 of her 228 crewmen were killed.
Elden was among the causalities. He was 35.
On
January 13, 1943, Ralph Waldo Elden was awarded
the Navy Cross posthumously for “extraordinary
heroism and extreme disregard of personal safety.”
On
April 6, 1943, the Navy honored Lt. Elden with the
highest recognition any Navy can bestow on one of
its sailors ... it named a ship after him, the destroyer
escort USS Elden, DE-264.
--
By George
Edmonston Jr.
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