\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
In that sense, the documents proved their worth for two generations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When I first began researching MACRs, I assumed that the WW II Navy generated similar documents, to track its own missing aviation personnel.\u00a0 As I quickly learned, no such system of documents was created.\u00a0 Instead, information about missing WW II Naval aviators is found in the Navy\u2019s Casualty Files.\u00a0 As described in the National Archives\u2019 finding aid for these documents, they,<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cContain lists, radio messages, and correspondence relating to casualties (both<\/em><\/span> combat and accidental), sustained by particular naval organizations or during particular actions or events.\u00a0 The records include notification received by BUPERS (Bureau of Personnel) that an officer or sailor is a casualty, prelimin<\/em><\/span><\/span>ary reports on the status (confirmed casualty or missing), ultimate disposition of the case (sometimes a finding a year or more after the event of presumptive death), and indication of notification of next-of-kin.\u00a0 Some cases include considerable detail about the events surrounding the casualty and the efforts made to locate or determine the status of the individual involved.\u00a0 Other cases simply include lists, such as names of the crews, of those casualties sustained by major combat vessels, or other naval units.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The fundamental difference being, with MACRs, a researcher works with a single document on microfiche, or digitally, via Fold3.com<\/a>.\u00a0 With Navy Casualty Files (well, a least at the United States National Archives!), a researcher can work with the original document.\u00a0 And because of that, sometimes \u2013 ironically \u2013 you can find something as startling as it is unexpected.<\/span><\/p>\n Case in point, this posting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As part of a project to identify WW II Allied POWs of the Japanese who – as members of the USAAF, USN, USMC, RAAF, RNZAF, and RAF – were captured after their aircraft were shot down during operational missions in the Pacific Theater – and who had the good fortune to return home at the war\u2019s end \u2013 I discovered the photographs which appear in this post. They are of a US Navy SB2C Helldiver dive-bomber of VB-82, of the USS Bennington, which was recovered intact (albeit in separate parts! \u2013 airframe and engine) from the coastal waters of Japan, as part of the postwar investigation into the fate of the aircraft\u2019s crew.\u00a0 Happily; fortunately, both the pilot and radio-operator \/ gunner survived ditching and captivity, and returned to America after their liberation from the POW Camp at Ofuna (Shinjku), Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n Their aircraft was an SB2C-4E, Bureau Number 20593, number \u201c26<\/em>\u201d.\u00a0 The plane was shot down during an attack against warships in Hiroshima Bay on March 19, 1945.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As described in the War Diary of the USS Bennington for that date,<\/span><\/p>\n Receiving word that units of the Japanese Fleet were at anchor at Hiroshima Bay and Kure Harbor, STRIKE ONE BAKER was launched, amid a grand scramble among pilots to decide who should be the lucky ones to make the flight.\u00a0 Thirty-eight (38) aircraft from the BENNINGTON joined with an equal number from the HORNET plus smaller groups from the BELLEAU WOOD and SAN JACINTO.\u00a0 The flight proceeded to Hiroshima Bay in search of the elusive enemy and sighted two or three BBs, one CL, a number of DDs, and various ships of the train.\u00a0 Attacks were made on one \u201cYamato\u201d class BB, several DDs and cargo types.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n DAMAGE INFLICTED<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n LOSSES<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Oddly, the serial given for Donald Worden is incorrect.\u00a0 It should be 0-130061.<\/span><\/p>\n And, in the Bennington\u2019s Action Reports covering March 14 through April 30, 1945 (\u201cOperations against Southern Kyushu Area, Kure Area (Honshu) and Nansei Shoto area in support of the Invasion and Occupation of Okinawa Gunto\u201d<\/em>):<\/span><\/p>\n 19 March 1945<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 Baker (15 VF, 11 VB, 12 VT), 0647-0941, together with flights from other carriers and task groups was assigned the mission of attacking the main Japanese battle fleet at its home base.\u00a0 The BENNINGTON Group in the face of severe AA fire attacked a YAMATO Class battleship, four destroyers and a large tanker all underway in HIRSOSHIMA BAY.\u00a0 Three hits with 1000 lb. SAP bombs were scored on the battleship \u2013 one being confirmed by photographs, three destroyers were damaged by near misses with bombs, rockets and strafing, and three hits and a miss with 500 kb. Bombs were scored on the tanker.\u00a0 One VB was severely damaged by AA and made a water landing South of the Bay.\u00a0 The pilot, Lt. D.D. WORDEN, USNR, and aircrewman C.A. BROWN ARM2c are listed as missing in action.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Due to my unfamiliarity with Japanese geographic terms or the Japanese language in general (!) I’m unable to actually identify – using on-line maps – the location where Lt. Worden ditched 20593.\u00a0 However, knowing that the aircraft landed some-where in Hiroshima Bay, I’ve included a Google Map as a general guide to that locale. \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Report of Investigation of Unidentified SB2C Helldiver by Legal Section GHQ, SCAP (SB2C-4E crewed by Lt. Donald D. Worden and ARM 3C Clifford A. Brown)<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The four photographs appear below.\u00a0 All were scanned at 600 dpi to ensure high resolution.\u00a0 Though the staples (1947 vintage staples, at that!) in the last two images are rather obvious, I’ve decided not to “crop” them out of the scans, so viewers can get a complete impression of the “character” of the original photos – and thus the landscape in the images. A view of 20593 from the front.\u00a0 Captain Hacker is presumably standing in the cockpit.\u00a0 Note that ARM Brown\u2019s opened parachute, still intact after two year\u2019s submersion, laying upon the right wing;\u00a0\u00a0 Seaweed has become attached to the underside of the wings and elevators, the fabric of the latter, and also the rudder, shows damage to fabric incurred from combat, or, when Lt. Worden ditched the plane.<\/span><\/p>\n And, a nice view of 20593 from the rear.\u00a0 Damage to the tailplane is clearly visible.\u00a0 Note that the radio-operator \/ gunner\u2019s twin thirty-caliber machine guns, pointing to the left rear, are still present.\u00a0 The white arrow denoting VC-20 can be seen on the starboard aileron.<\/span><\/p>\n Captain Hacker holding the Helldiver\u2019s cowling, while the plane\u2019s Wright R-2600-20 Cyclone sits forlornly nearby.\u00a0 The propeller was not found during recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n The “back-seater\u2019s” canopy is missing (probably having been jettisoned prior to ditching), while the rear-canopy sections of the turtleback are partially folded.\u00a0 Note that the number on the cowling is \u201c89\u201d, while that on the tail is \u201c26\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n An overall view of 20593.\u00a0 Not quite in focus, but still quite interesting.\u00a0 ARM Brown\u2019s parachute was first found in the rear cockpit, and then placed upon the starboard wing.<\/span><\/p>\n * * * * * * * * * *<\/span><\/p>\n The fate of the wreckage of 20593 is unaddressed in the VB-82 Casualty File.\u00a0 The aircraft and its engine may have served as raw material for tools, household furnishings, or workplace implements for nearby inhabitants.\u00a0 Or, the wreckage may eventually been sold for scrap.\u00a0 Ironically, precisely because it was intact when recovered, there are likely now \u2013 seventy-one years later \u2013 no traces of the plane still remaining at the site of its recovery.\u00a0 Like the overwhelming majority of military aircraft of all nations, once the machine served its purpose, it passed out of existence. Well, machines can be replaced.\u00a0 The men who fly them cannot be.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What of the two airmen who crewed 20593?<\/span><\/p>\n Among SB2C aircrews shot down in combat during the Second World War, there were eight other instances where both<\/em> crewmen of this two-seat dive-bomber \u2013 pilot, and, radio-operator \/ gunner – survived capture and captivity.\u00a0 They are: June 15, 1944<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n VB-2, SB2C-1C, Bureau Number 261<\/span><\/p>\n Lt. Daniel T. Galvin<\/strong> (California), and ARM 2C Oscar D. Long<\/strong> (Greenville, S.C.)<\/span><\/p>\n POWs at Ofuna<\/span><\/p>\n February 16, 1945<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n VB-12, SB2C-4E, Bureau Number 20308<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Ensign Charles H. Brown<\/strong> (Kingwood, W.V.), and ARM 3C Donald J. Richards<\/strong> (Fort Lauderdale, Fl.)<\/span><\/p>\n POWs at Ofuna<\/span><\/p>\n March 18, 1945<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n VB-82, SB2C-4E, Bureau Number 20555<\/span><\/p>\n Lt. Carlyle Newton<\/strong> (Connecticut), and ARM 1C Edward G. Curtin<\/strong> (Washington, D.C.)<\/span><\/p>\n Newton: POW at Ofuna; Curtin: POW at Omori<\/span><\/p>\n March 19, 1945<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>VB-10, SB2C-4E, Bureau Number 20971<\/span><\/p>\n Ensign Robert Brinick<\/strong> (Detroit, Michigan), and ARM 3C Crawford H. Burnette<\/strong> (Douglasville, Ga.)<\/span><\/p>\n POWs at Ofuna<\/span><\/p>\n VB-82 (Worden<\/strong> and Brown<\/strong> \u2013 in this post)<\/span><\/p>\n VB-83, SB2C-4E, Bureau Number 20702<\/span><\/p>\n Lt. Eugene J. Tougas<\/strong> (Jacksonville, Fl.), and ARM 1C Charles J. Richardson <\/strong>(?)<\/span><\/p>\n POWs at Ofuna<\/span><\/p>\n July 18, 1945<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n VB-83, SB2C-4E, Bureau Number 20684<\/span> Ensign Ernest W. Baker <\/strong>(Richmond, Va.), and ARM 3C Walter L. Owens<\/strong> (Chicago, Il.)<\/span><\/p>\n POWs at Ofuna<\/span><\/p>\n July 28, 1945<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n VB-86, SB2C-5, Bureau Number 83246<\/span> Lt. JG Joseph D. Brown<\/strong> (Baltimore, Md.), and ARM 2C Frederick C. Lockett<\/strong> (Ardsley, Pa.)<\/span><\/p>\n POWs at Ofuna<\/span><\/p>\n VB-94, SB2C-4E, Bureau Number 20946<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Lt. Joseph G. Costigan<\/strong> (?), and ARM 3C Warren E. Collins<\/strong> (Essex County, N.Y.)<\/span><\/p>\n POWs at Ofuna<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The names of Donald Worden and Clifford Brown appear (as do those of seven other airmen) in the list of returned prisoners in the USS Bennington’s Cruise Book.\u00a0 Both were imprisoned at Ofuna (Shinjku) POW Camp, in Tokyo.<\/span><\/p>\n More information is available about Donald Worden.\u00a0 Navy Muster Rolls list him as having been stationed \u2013 in December of 1941 and February of 1942 – at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base at Kansas City, respectively.\u00a0 By March of 1942, he is listed at the Reserve Naval Aviation Base in New Orleans.<\/span><\/p>\n Notably, he was the recipient of the Navy Cross.\u00a0 His award citation, dated 9 July 1945 and available at Military Times<\/a>, states,<\/span><\/p>\n The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Donald Doris Worden (NSN: 0-130061), United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Bomber and Division Leader of four planes in Bombing Squadron EIGHTY-TWO (VB-82), attached to the U.S.S. BENNINGTON (CV-20), on 19 March 1945. \u00a0On that date, Lieutenant Worden engaged in an eleven plane attack against a new enemy battleship and its destroyer-cruiser screen near the Naval Base at Kure, Japan. \u00a0He dove his aircraft and maneuvered his division with skill and aggressiveness in a closely coordinated dive bombing attack on this force, his determination and able airmanship contributing vitally to the damage scored on the battleship by repeated direct hits and near misses. \u00a0His attack was driven home in the face of extremely intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire from the battleship, its nine screening destroyers and cruisers and from surrounding shore batteries, and in spite of his own plane being struck before his dive. \u00a0His courage and daring were at all times in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.<\/span><\/p>\n Combat Connected Naval Casualties of World War Two<\/em> lists his next-of-kin as his wife, Evelyn Louise Worden, her wartime address being 1860 Southwest 10th Street, in Miami, Florida.<\/span><\/p>\n Further information is available about Lt. Worden, but it reveals a future \u2013 post-1945 – that one wishes had been far different.<\/span><\/p>\n After surviving being shot down and captured by the Japanese \u2013 a fate from which many Allied airmen did not return \u2013 and spending the next half-year as a POW, Lt. Worden remained in the Navy, rising by the early 1950s to the rank of Lieutenant Commander.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n He was killed in an aviation accident only eight years later.<\/span><\/p>\n As reported by the Kansas City Times<\/em> in that newspaper\u2019s issue of December, 1953:<\/span><\/p>\n FLIER DOWN IN PACIFIC NAVY PLANE WITH TEN ABOARD IS LONG OVERDUE<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Lieut. Milton Kay Walsh, Son of Mrs. E. L. Walsh. 2 East Sixty-Second, Is a Crew Member<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Kansas City Times<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n December 22, 1953<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The navy announced yesterday that a Kansas City man was aboard an R4D transport plane which disappeared Sunday in the Guam area of the Western Pacific while on a flight looking for another plane, lost since Wednesday.\u00a0 He is Lieut. Milton Kay Walsh, 30, husband of Mrs. Betty Kerr Walsh, Palo Alto, Calif., formerly of Kansas City.\u00a0 His mother, Mrs. Edward L. Walsh, lives at 2 East Sixty-second street.\u00a0 Ten crew members were on the plane, which has not been heard from since it went out to look for the other craft.\u00a0 Lieutenant Walsh attended Southwest high school and Junior college before he enlisted in the navy in World War II.\u00a0 He has been in the service eleven years.\u00a0 In World War II he was a flier based at Attu in the Aleutians.\u00a0 He has a 5-year- old daughter, Peggy Jean Walsh, Palo Alto.\u00a0 A sister of the lieutenant, Mrs. E. Albert Aisenstadt, lives at 1204 West Sixty-seventh street.\u00a0 His wife\u2019s parents are Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Kerr, 1120 East Seventy-fifth street terrace.\u00a0 Others listed as being on board the transport: Lieut. Comdr. Donald D. Worden, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Ralph Worden of Stewartsville, Mo.; Kenneth John Schmitz, chief aviation machinist\u2019s mate, son of Mrs. Mary Helen Schmitz. San Diego.; Thomas Theodore Lillie, chief aviation electronicsman, son of Mr. Ernest Lillie of El Reno, Ok.; William Boykin Jenkins, aviation machinist\u2019s mate, first class, son of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Jenkins, Atlanta.; Hollis Mimhell Burks, parachute rigger, first class, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Mitchell Burks, Huntsville. Ala.; Edward Frank Geis, aviation elecronicsman second class, son of Mr. and Mrs. John E. Geis, Dos Palos, Calif.; Marion Leon Carpenter, aviation machinist\u2019s mate, third class, son of Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Gordon Carpenter. Bessemer City, N. C.; Billie Edward Hall, aviation machinist\u2019s mate, third class, son of Mrs. Everett Hall, Amarillo, Tex.; Douglas Anthony Anderlini, airman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Louis Anderlini, St. Louis.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n This story was also reported in the Lewiston Tribune<\/em> in its December 27 issue (found at the Google News Archive<\/a>):<\/span><\/p>\n Navy Plane Found in Volcano Crater<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Lewiston Tribune<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
![\"map\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Map-1024x780.jpg\")
<\/a>The above is the account of the loss of the SB2C from the American side.\u00a0 What is particularly noteworthy in the Casualty File is its coverage of this incident from the vantage point of five Japanese witnesses, the hiring and interaction with the Japanese salvage team, technical details of the Helldiver based on a description of the salvaged wreckage, and above all, the four photographs of the plane that were \u2013 and are still \u2013 included with the report.\u00a0 (Unfortunately, the plane\u2019s identification plate was not<\/em> found in the Casualty File!)\u00a0 A transcribed version of the Casualty File is available, below:
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n![\"sb2c-4e-20593-vb-82-1a-600-w_edited-2\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/SB2C-4E-20593-VB-82-1a-600-W_edited-2-1024x729.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"sb2c-4e-20593-vb-82-1b-600-w_edited-2\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/SB2C-4E-20593-VB-82-1b-600-W_edited-2-1024x732.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"sb2c-4e-20593-vb-82-2a-600-w\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/SB2C-4E-20593-VB-82-2a-600-W-1024x716.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"sb2c-4e-20593-vb-82-2b-600-w_edited-2\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/SB2C-4E-20593-VB-82-2b-600-W_edited-2-1024x738.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n![\"uss-bennington-cruise-book-1945\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/USS-Bennington-Cruise-Book-1945-722x1024.jpg\")
<\/a>Presently, my information about Brown is limited to the entry for him in Combat Connected Naval Casualties of World War Two<\/em>, which lists his wartime next-of-kin as his father, Mr. Amos Stanley Brown, of 44 Mercer St., Hamilton Square (Mercer County), New Jersey.<\/span><\/p>\n