Stories
Some interesting stories regarding VT-1 and VT-1 squadron members.
Click on the names to check it out.
2. Leads mass flyover at Surrender Ceremony
Ltjg Jack Williams (September 2nd 1945)
3. USS Hornet (CV-8) survivors
Joseph Caruso Y3c Charles Gordon ARM2c Jack Durham (October 26th 1942)
USS Hornet under attack (and sunk) during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
4. Killed at Dismal Swamp
Ltjg Thomas Cusick (September 8th 1947)
5. He ate a pint of ice cream as his ship sank
Leslie Farrow (May 8th 1942)
USS Lexington, abandoned and burning, several hours after being damaged by Japanese airstrikes
6. In the drink ... again!
Ltjg Leonard Wood (Aug 4th and 9th 1943)
7. First day of combat ... "I said my most fervent prayers"
ARM3c Horace Harris "The Reverend" (June 12th 1944)
8. Second ditching ... like driving your car off a dock
AOM2c Stan Carr (Aug 24th 1943)
9. Survived the ditching ... beaten to death by Japanese fishermen
ARM3c Joseph Dortsch (July 15-20, 1945)
10. Wartime marriage proposal ... he mailed the ring
Mrs. Doris Campbell (1943-1944?)
11. Jumps from plane... in the parachute he packed!
PR3c Linus Lammers (1943)
12. He survived Pearl Harbor's "second disaster"
ARM3c Richard McConeghy (May 21st 1944)
13. USS Chicago survivors
ARM2c Lawrence Bergner Lt Joseph Spengler (January 30th 1943)
14. A dramatic entry into the war ... they dodge a torpedo
AMM2c Maris Alexander (July 8th 1943)
15. They made it into their life raft but ...
Ltjg John Keeler (June 15th 1944)
16. A steep and deadly learning curve
Ens Derril Wollert (Sept 19th 1943)
17. Eight planes launched but none returned to the Yorktown that day
Lt Charles Nelson (June 20th, 1944, KIA in plane #82)
18. Nothing flyable remained
Ltjg Carl Sanborn (July 9th 1944)
19. He dropped a 2000-pound bomb on the Japanese aircraft carrier
Ens Paul DeMarco (July 24th 1945)
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