- His "little green book", i.e. Continuous Service Certificate.
- Two interviews he gave (2007 and 2011).
- My and my siblings' recollections of things he told us while he was alive.
- Official and unofficial records of the histories of his squadron, air group, and carriers, especially Location of U.S. Naval Aircraft in World War II.
- The book Helldiver Squadron: The Story of Carrier Bombing Squadron 17 with Task Force 58, a contemporary narrative account of Carrier Air Group 17 while on the USS Bunker Hill.
I think of his time in the Navy, broadly, as comprising four epochs:
- His first enlistment, before the war, when he worked with PBY flying boats;
- When he was with a dive bomber squadron on the Bunker Hill - 1943;
- When he was with a dive bomber squadron on the Hornet - 1945 (first half);
- The post-war period, when he was an officer.
My dad enlisted in the Navy on 1937.10.05. He was 21 at the time. His first assignment was on the old USS Langley. This ship had been the Navy's first aircraft carrier, but by 1938 it had been converted to seaplane tender. He was on it about 3 months, and then he was given an opportunity to volunteer for aviation. He was sent up to Sand Point Naval Air Station in Seattle, Washington, to Patrol Wing 4, squadron VP-45 [1], who were using PBYs. My dad was very fond of this plane. At some point while he was with this squadron, it was sent to Alaska on some kind of temporary duty. This squadron was transferred to Patrol Wing 1 in San Diego, getting redesignated as VP-14. Then they were transferred to Patrol Wing 2 at Kaneohe Bay, resulting in a redesignation to VP-26. [2] Shortly after that, all the squadrons were renumbered, and his was given the VP-14 designation. Not long after that, on 1941.10.25, his four-year tour was up, he was out; he headed back to the States. Six weeks later, Pearl Harbor was attacked.
[1] Not to be confused with other squadrons designated VP-45 at other times.
[2] In those days, Fleet Air Wing squadrons were given designations whose first digit corresponded to the Wing; so VP-14 was necessarily a Patrol Wing 1 squadron; and its move to Patrol Wing 2 necessitated a redesignation. Carrier Air Group squadron designations did not have this rule, as far as I am aware.
My dad re-enlisted on 1942.01.24. Because it had been less than 90 days, he was able to resume his prior rank and rating: Radioman 1st Class (RM1c). He was assigned to VP-13 in San Diego; their job was to patrol the Pacific coast for enemy submarines. (They were using the PB2Y.) Then he was sent to Radio Materiel School, the advanced electronics school for technicians; this was at Bellevue in DC. After ten months, he graduated, and was "made chief": he got the rating of Aviation Chief Radio Technician (ACRT) on 1943.02.27.
He was subsequently assigned to the recently established Bombing squadron 17 (VB-17), part of Carrier Air Group 17 (CAG-17). This Air Group had been formed at the beginning of 1943, earmarked for the brand new USS Bunker Hill (CV-17). The new Air Group consisted of four squadrons:
- VF-17 (Fighting) with F4U Corsairs
- VT-17 (Torpedo) with TBF Avengers
- VB-17 (Bombing) with SB2C Helldivers
- VS-17 (Scouting) also with SB2C Helldivers
At the time my dad transferred in, the Air Group was training with its carrier in Norfolk.
On 1943.09.08, the ship and its Air Group left Norfolk, passed through the Panama Canal, and, on 09.26, arrived at San Diego, where they may have gained additional personnel. (Note: sources say the Bunker Hill's home base was Alameda Naval Air Station, but it does not seem to have made a stop there on its way out to the action.)
From 2 to 6 October, they sailed out to Hawaii (shuttling about a thousand military passengers along with them - including VF-18, a fighting squadron using standard F6F Hellcats). While en route to Hawaii, CV-17 got the word that the Navy decided to replace VF-17 with VF-18 in the Bunker Hill's air group; they apparently didn't want to base Corsairs on carriers for logistical reasons. VF-17 with its Corsairs would be transported to the south Pacific where they would be land-based. For the remainder of Bunker Hill's first tour in the Pacific, its Air Group's fighting squadron was VF-18.
On about 1943.10.19, the Bunker Hill with VB-17 and the rest of CAG-17 left Pearl Harbor, headed for the combat area in the south Pacific. They crossed the equator on 1943.10.26. They harbored at Espiritu Santo on/by 1943.11.05.
Once in the combat area in the south Pacific, CV-17 and its air group were
put right to work. On November 11, they participated in the attack on Rabaul, a heavily fortified area in eastern Papua New Guinea. VF-17 with their Corsairs, now land based, did combat air patrol duty over the task group while
CAG-17 was off attacking Rabaul. They intercepted an incoming air
attack force; they shot down some planes but didn't arrest the attack. The carrier had a
new defensive weapon: 5-inch guns firing shells with "influence" fuzes, i.e.
proximity fuzes based on acoustic doppler. It was very effective.
On November 20, they participated in the invasion of Tarawa, about halfway between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea. They saw numerous other actions as well, right up until March of 1944. At that time, the Bunker Hill returned to Pearl Harbor, where it parted ways with CAG-17.
(The Bunker Hill immediately took on a new air group, CVG-8, consisting of VF-8, VT-8, etc. After just one month, the ship was back in the combat zone. CVG-8 had been displaced from its prior station on the USS Intrepid due to heavy damage to that carrier in 1944.02. This CVG-8 was established in 1943 specifically for the Intrepid, and is not the same as the original air group belong to USS Hornet (CV-8).)
The CAG-17 returned to Alameda, where its status was changed to "reforming".* The air group's status changed to "reformed" on 1944.04.18. [*Note that this "reforming" did not mean that all of its former members remained in the group. In fact, several of the group's veteran members (pilots, at least) formed the nucleus of a new air group, CAG-84, which was stationed on the Bunker Hill at some point during its second Pacific tour.]
During this timeframe (April 5 being one specific date that I know of), my dad was in hospital in San Diego due to a "bad knee". He says he got 30 days R&R. (See further discussion below)
The Air Group was back in Hawaii by December 5, on its way out to to the combat area in the western Pacific. By mid February 1945, the Air Group was on Guam for a few days (transported by CVE), where they witnessed air strips being built for the B-29s which would later bomb Japan. The Air Group then went out to Ulithi, where it took its new station aboard the USS Hornet (CV-12), replacing Carrier Air Group 11. (Ulithi is less than 400 nautical miles from Guam.) The Hornet immediately departed Ulithi for combat operations, particularly attacks on industrial targets in mainland Japan.
According
to Location of U.S. Naval Aircraft, World War II,
CVG-17 replaced CVG-11 on the Hornet some time between 1945.02.14 and 19.
Of particular note is that CVG-17 was still on Guam as of 1945.02.13. The Hornet had departed Ulithi for combat operations on 1945.02.10. It is therefore likely that the change of air group occurred at sea, with the incoming and outgoing squadrons transported by CVE. CVG-17 was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for service while attached to CV-12 Hornet, with a given date range of 1945.02.16 to 1945.06.10.
On 1944.12.15, while his squadron was in Hawaii on its way back out to the combat area, my dad was appointed Ensign (Temporary). However, due to (what I believe were ordinary) communication delays, his command "didn't receive
that news until some time in February." (His service record "green book" lists a date of 1945.03.05.) He subsequently got orders transferring him to
shore duty. That was the custom, he said: if you were enlisted and you got a commission, you went
from land to sea or sea to land. This was to get you away from the guys you had
just been serving with. He left the Hornet and was transported back to the States aboard the USS Lexington (CV-16), and had some R&R. The Lexington was in Pearl Harbor on 1945.03.17 and .24, and was in Seattle on 1945.03.31.
In the two or three weeks that he was with CAG-17 on the Hornet in early 1945, they saw some serious action. According to my dad, they went to the Sea of Japan, where CAG-17 delivered the first strikes on Honshu on February 17 (though probably slightly earlier than this), and again on March 3. They attacked the Nakajima Musashino aircraft plant and destroyed it. According to some reports, this plant had been producing half of all
aircraft engines in Japan. This bombing raid was preceded by the
fighters shooting down all the planes and strafing the ones on the
ground. (This target had been
previously attacked numerous times by Army B-29 bombers without ever
causing significant destruction.) According to official documents, the Hornet supported the Iwo Jima invasion on Feb. 19-20.
Some time after he left the Hornet, it was badly damaged in a powerful typhoon.
Back in the states, my dad received orders on 1945.05.02 to report to Whidbey Island. After a few months, he was sent to the Naval Academy as a trainer (training squadron). A few months after that, he was transferred to the Bureau of Aeronautics in DC. That is where he was when the war ended, on 1945.08.15.
My dad retired from the Navy in 1961, and retired altogether in 1981. He passed away in 2013.
In 2007, my dad was interviewed for the Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. You can see his record in their catalog. It includes an audio recording of the two-hour interview. Below are some details I have culled from that interview.
VB-17/CAG-17 was composed of 95% new reserves and new enlistees (like himself).
His work with the squadron / on the carrier involved the following:
Job #1 was to make sure all of the electronics were working when the aircraft take off, particularly the radio equipment being used by the radioman-gunners -- who were always very happy to tell him whenever anything wasn't working right.
#2: When the planes came back, he'd quickly jump up on the wing of each one and ask the pilot if he had any radio squawks [complaints, I assume]. If there was anything wrong, he'd fix it right in the aircraft whenever possible. Otherwise, he'd get one of "the kids" to take the unit out of the airplane and down to the shop, to be worked on by technicians (who were attached to the ship - probably K-1 Division). This would often be simply an exchange: the shop would give the kid a different one already known to be working, to take back to the plane.
Entertainment on the ship: Movies on the hangar deck. They didn't listen to (couldn't get) Armed Forces Radio out at sea or in the So.Pac. Played cards a lot. He lived in the chiefs' quarters; they had their own mess, separate from the rest of the enlisted men. After the evening meal, they'd play poker. He lost $600 in his "indoctrination"; he learned; he played on. By the time he left the ship, he had won it all back! Acey-deucey (close kin of backgammon) was also popular. But cribbage is what he played from Alameda, on the train, at San Diego, on the transport out to Hawaii, on the transport to Guam, on the transport out to Ulithi, and on the Hornet. He always played the same opponent: Donald Amati, from Los Angeles [apparently another chief in the squadron]. He claimed to be champion of the Pacific Fleet. My dad told him, "Well, I'm only champion of the Atlantic Fleet." They played cribbage at every possible opportunity. Amati kept a record of all their games, including the points, for the three months that they were together. At the end, when my dad was leaving the ship, Amati did a final accounting. Out of the hundreds of thousands of points they'd played, my dad had edged him out by only a few dozen points, and Amati graciously conceded.
He has four stars to his Pacific Campaign ribbon. Different times and places.
Dad said that after he left the Hornet, it was tasked with attacking the Yamato, on 1945.04.07 (or 17). VB-17 was first to arrive on the Yamato, and the squadron's skipper, Robert M. Ware, went in first, without waiting for support. His plane was shot down; he was wounded and his radioman-gunner died. "First to dive, first to die."
In September of 2011, my dad was interviewed by a Mr. David Shelby, who was collecting first-person accounts for a local history project. There is allegedly audio tape of this recording; I do not have access to it. Below is my reworking of Mr. Shelby's summarization of the interview.
During the support of the Tarawa invasion [1943.11.20], my dad was
on the Bunker Hill's deck when thirteen Betty bombers attacked the task group from due west at sunset. The Bettys made it past the carrier’s destroyer escort and attacked the
three carriers at 50 to 100 feet above the water. Four of them headed for the Bunker Hill. The captain was able to maneuver the ship so that it was difficult for the bombers to get their
best approach, and the Bunker Hill’s aft anti-aircraft gunners shot down three of the bombers well before they could make a run on the
ship. Dad and others on deck could see the last enemy plane still approaching. It was only the
skeleton of an airplane, with an inferno raging inside the fuselage, yet under the relentless anti-aircraft fire it continued to head straight for the ship, finally crashing into the sea a mere
75 yards from the carrier.
The
Hornet had a near-miss on 1945.03.19.
One of the Hornet’s most important missions was the aerial
attack on the Nagagima Mushishoni [Nakajima Musashino] aircraft factory and power plant located
about 25 miles northwest of Tokyo in February of 1945. This was the largest facility of this kind in
Japan at the time and was heavily camouflaged to hide it from the allied planes. The Hornet was 80 miles off of Yokahama when
24 dive bombers took off for this mission.
Much of the target was destroyed during the attack and the future production
at this location was seriously disrupted.
After this mission the Japanese were never able to get back to the level
of support and production for their air force.
Dad mentioned Task Force 5, but it's not clear from his anecdote about it that he (his CAG) were actually in it... Wp has no page about it.
Regarding my dad's activities and whereabouts during the Air Group's hiatus between being stationed on the Bunker Hill and on the Hornet in1944:
I do not have specific details on how my dad ended up at the hospital in San Diego. Neither
the official info I've found, nor the old man's surviving words, rule out the likelihood that he came all the way back to Alameda with the rest of the Air Group and then went down to San Diego on his own. However, some of my siblings recall him telling them other anecdotal details. They say:
- He left the carrier early in order to get surgery on his knee.
- He was on a very slow moving transport ship which was running low on food.
- In the interval between when he left the Bunker Hill and when it came back to port, that ship was significantly damaged in an attack by enemy planes.
The first two points might well be true; I have no information to support or refute them. But the third point does not align with reality. The Bunker Hill never experienced any significant combat damage during its first tour, when CAG-17 was on the ship. It did in its second trip out, however.
So I believe that my sibling's anecdotal information is probably essentially correct, except that dad was exaggerating slightly (or else got his facts wrong) in saying that he missed the damaging attack on the Bunker Hill by leaving it early. I think he (or my siblings) may have been thinking of the serious damage done to the Bunker Hill by enemy planes during its second trip out, when an entirely different air group was on that carrier.
Another possibility is that either my dad or my siblings were getting his dispatch to the hospital in San Diego confused with his return from Hornet, because, of the latter, the following are certainly factual: He left the carrier early and was transported home on other ships; and the Hornet suffered some significant damage after he left it.
My dad's rating during his time with VB-17 was "ACRT (AA)". ACRT means Aviation Chief Radio Technician. I am unsure what "AA" means, but one term I've seen often used in connection with these carrier air groups is "Aviation Anti-submarine", or "Air Anti-sub". This would make some sense, since VT and VS have obvious anti-sub roles, and VB does as well since its SB2C planes are often equipped with depth charges. Another possibility is "Airman Apprentice", but I don't believe that is the case here, since Airman Apprentice is an actual rating, and I don't believe my dad was ever what could have been called an Airman Apprentice. He was not a flyer; he was part of the carrier-based support crew. But again - I am simply unsure.
Originally, CAG-17 had two distinct squadrons using the Curtiss-Wright SB2C dive bomber: VB-17, the bombing squadron, and VS-17, a scout squadron. The SB2C was considered well suited for both roles, and the two squadrons performed both roles. Apparently the two squadrons were operationally merged (even if they remained distinct entities) early on; and later it appears that VS-17 was fully merged into VB-17, being eliminated as a distinct entity. History says that VB-17, after a number of redesignations, ended up as VS-24. It's worth noting that the whole doctrine of dive bombing was considered obsolete by the end of the war, so it's very possible that bombing squadrons, with their SB2C's and similar aircraft, might have been redesignated as scouting squadrons.
Two squadrons which operated from the Bunker Hill and/or the Hornet, although not during any timeframe when my dad was on either ship:
- VF(N)-76, a night-flying fighter squadron.
- VMF-221 Marine fighters, using the F2A Brewster Buffalo; also the Wildcat and Corsair.
Detailed description of Bunker Hill's activities.
Official (but brief) history of CV-17 Bunker Hill.
A book about Hellcats and their service history.
The diary of Glen A. Boren, a sailor on the Bunker Hill.
The Fast Carrier Task Force had a couple different designations -- TF-58 and TF-38 -- depending on which admiral was in charge.
"In late 1944, a new VF-17 was formed and operated aboard the carrier USS Hornet. Although slow to take up the traditions of the original VF-17 'Jolly Rogers', the new unit flying F6F Hellcats destroyed 161 Japanese aircraft between February and May 1945. Like the original VF-17, the Hornet's 'Jolly Rogers' had 12 pilots make ace status." - source
The following documentary short film, With the Marines at Tarawa, while it focuses on the Marines, does give a pretty good look at the air attacks of the Navy squadrons, including my dad's:
Primary source: Location of U.S. Naval Aircraft in World War II. These records show not only the carrier air groups and aircraft carriers, but also the "fleet air wings", which consisted largely of PBY scout craft. It also shows tenders. And also the Marine squadrons, such as VMF-221.
One of the most interesting primary sources I've found and have direct access to is the book Helldiver Squadron: The Story of Carrier Bombing Squadron 17 with Task Force 58, by Robert Olds. It covers the history of CAG-17 from its inception up through its "disbanding" at San Francisco in March of 1944. We (my siblings and I) believe there's no way our father could possibly have not known about this book; yet he never mentioned it, as far as we can recall, and he certainly didn't possess a copy of it. We can only speculate as to why. The appendix, which lists all of the personnel of VB-17, lists my dad as "transferred" (along with only seven other men), even though he joined the squadron just a couple months after its formation, while they were still training at Norfolk. The book has a group photo of the squadron's enlisted men, but sadly my dad is not in it. I believe it must have been taken within the first few months of the Air Group's existence, before my dad joined.
Interesting after-action analysis/commentary regarding the role of Communications / Radiomen on carriers.
A nice table of the fighting squadrons by deployment.
According to these records, the following aircraft assigned to VB-17 were lost between November 1943 and May 1945:
Date Location Carrier attachment Aircraft#
1943-11-11 Rabaul USS Bunker Hill 00024
1943-11-11 Rabaul USS Bunker Hill 00067
1943-11-11 Rabaul USS Bunker Hill 00078
1943-11-11 Rabaul USS Bunker Hill 00180
1943-11-19 Tarawa USS Bunker Hill 00076
1943-12-01 Makin USS Bunker Hill 00028
1943-12-01 Makin USS Bunker Hill 00198
1943-12-09 Nauru USS Bunker Hill 00081
1944-01-01 Kavieng USS Bunker Hill 00018
1944-01-24 Marshall Isl USS Bunker Hill 00112
1944-01-29 Kwajalein USS Bunker Hill 00087
1944-01-31 Kwajalein USS Bunker Hill 00195
1944-02-16 Truk USS Bunker Hill 00037
1944-02-16 Truk USS Bunker Hill 00091
1944-02-16 Truk USS Bunker Hill 00093
1944-03-02 Pearl Harbor USS Bunker Hill 00041
1944-07-18 Hilo 18858
1944-12-12 Hawaii USS Saratoga (CV-3) 18976
1945-02-05 Ulithi USS Hornet (CV-12) 18773
1945-03-14 Honshu USS Hornet (CV-12) 21414
1945-03-14 Kyushu USS Hornet (CV-12) 20799
1945-03-19 Honshu USS Hornet (CV-12) 19561
1945-03-28 Kyushu USS Hornet (CV-12) 21279
1945-04-04 Okinawa USS Hornet (CV-12) 19563
1945-04-07 Okinawa USS Hornet (CV-12) 19288
1945-04-07 Okinawa USS Hornet (CV-12) 20714
1945-04-07 Okinawa USS Hornet (CV-12) 21438
1945-04-18 Okinawa USS Hornet (CV-12) 20814
1945-04-19 Okinawa USS Hornet (CV-12) 19431
1945-04-25 Okinawa USS Hornet (CV-12) 19761
1945-05-18 Kyushu USS Hornet (CV-12) 21043
From this a pretty clear picture emerges of where the squadron was on various specific dates.
(Note that its station on the Saratoga was simply for transport, from Hawaii to its new combat station on the Hornet.)
The following information is based on dates known plane losses.
Wherever a date says "until", the actual date could be later.
Wherever a date says "by", the actual date could be earlier.
Wherever a date range says "between", the actual first date could be earlier and the second date later.
- CAG-17 was attached to CV-17 until 1944-03-02 Note: this does not include VF-17, which detached early; see separate timeline below.
- CAG-17 was in Hawaii between 1944-03-02 and 1944-12-12 including 1944-07-18
- CAG-17 was attached to CV-3 between 1944-12-10 and 1944-12-12 This was probably for transport from Hawaii to Ulithi, to station on CV-12.
- CAG-17 was attached to CV-12 by 1945-02-04 this includes VF-17 as well as VBF-17
- VF-17 was attached to CV-17 until 1943-09-24
- VF-17 was operating from land between 1943-11-01 and 1944-02-17
- VF-17 was in Hawaii between 1944-11-30 and 1944-12-12 Here it seems to have been reunited with the rest of CAG-17.
- CAG-84 was in California between 1944-07-23 and 1944-08-03
- CAG-84 was attached to CV-17 by 1945-01-30 this includes VBF-84. much of CAG-84 (54 planes) were lost in a kamikaze attach on 1945-05-11.
Some photos of my dad at various points in his Navy career:
A cool page about the use of dazzle camouflage!
Some photos of Consolidated PBY Catalinas at Sand Point Naval Airstation in 1937. My dad might been there at the time these were taken! or else just a few weeks or months later.
NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive: CV-17
NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive: CV-12
Bunker Hill during her shakedown cruise in the summer of 1943. You can see the Helldivers of VB-17 and VS-17, and the Corsairs of VF-17, with pre-WWII-style markings:
Bunker Hill, with crew members lining the flight deck, passes through the Panama Canal en route to the Pacific Theater of Operations, 1943.09.17:
Newly arrived in the Pacific, with her deck full of aircraft:
One of VB-17's SB2C Helldivers taxiing out for launch on the Hornet:
Hornet with Air Group 17 on the flight deck:
A VF-17 Hellcat being lowered down Hornet's deck edge elevator:
TBM-3 Avengers from VT-17 attacking targets around Tokyo:
Forward flight deck view, from the port side, of the island of USS Hornet (CV-12) in 1945.04. Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters from VF-17 can be seen on deck, as well as the bridge superstructure with its radar antennas, and 40mm and 5" gun mounts:
Sixteen F6F Hellcats from VF-17 preparing to attack the Yamato and its escorts, April 6, 1945:
F6F-5 Hellcats from VF-17 on the flight deck of the Hornet:
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