This pilot sought to avenge his brother’s death over the South Pacific

Of the various plane through which airmen fought their solution to obtain the Medal of Honor, alive or posthumously, just one flew the Consolidated PB4Y-1, a U.S. Navy variant of the B-24 Liberator. In distinction to its U.S. Military cousin, which bombed Axis industrial targets en masse over Europe throughout World Battle II, the Navy’s “Privateer” flew patrols over the Pacific in fours or much less, typically alone. It was on a kind of lone forays that Bruce Van Voorhis obtained the Medal of Honor.

Born in Aberdeen, Washington, on Jan. 29, 1908, Van Voorhis spent most of his youth in Fallon, Nevada, the place he graduated from Churchill County Excessive College in 1924. From there he entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, acquiring his officer’s fee in June 1929. In September 1931 he certified as a pilot and was promoted to lieutenant junior grade in June 1932.

Van Voorhis went via the same old succession of naval assignments pre-war, earlier than being promoted to lieutenant commander in January 1942 after the Japanese provider assault on Pearl Harbor plunged the U.S. into the battle.

That July, Van Voorhis obtained the devastating information that his brother, 1st Lt. Wayne Van Voorhis, had been reported lacking in motion within the Philippines. Later analysis revealed he had been taken prisoner and survived the Bataan Loss of life March, solely to die of malaria in a jail camp.

Eager to avenge his brother’s demise, Van Voorhis adamantly requested a fight project within the South Pacific. Early in 1943 he was given command of naval patrol squadron VP-14, then to patrol bomber squadron VB-102 at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. In April his squadron was dispatched to the Solomon Islands, working from Carney Airfield, off Guadalcanal.

On July 2, 1943, Van Voorhis flew a mission through which he reported bombing a cargo ship, a destroyer and a destroyer escort, commenting solely that the enemy’s anti-aircraft hearth was inaccurate. On July 6, he volunteered to fly a lone reconnaissance mission to Greenwich Island off Kapingamarangi Atoll, the southernmost of the japanese Caroline Islands.

Taking off that night time in his PB4Y-1, Van Voorhis and his crew made their means via poor visibility and treacherous winds to succeed in their goal 700 nautical miles away. As compiled from Coastwatchers and Allied intelligence, upon arrival Van Voorhis made six shallow dives within the face of correct anti-aircraft hearth and enemy fighters, every assault run coming at decrease altitude than the final. His bombs destroyed a radio station and a few anti-aircraft artillery, additionally driving down an enemy fighter and strafing three others within the lagoon. In his final run, nonetheless, Van Voorhis’ airplane was shot down.

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Found after the battle, a Japanese logbook of the occasion considerably differed from the Allied account. In it, three Mitsubishi F1M2 reconnaissance floatplanes of the 902nd Kokutai (naval air group), led by Warrant Officer Tokio Uchimura, scrambled as much as interact the bomber and shot it down. The F1M2, codenamed “Pete” by Allied intelligence, was the final navy biplane produced by the Japanese and though armed with two synchronized 7.7mm machine weapons for the pilot and one for the observer, was remarkably maneuverable and flown with distinctive aggressiveness by its crews.

As compared, the PB4Y-1 packed 10 .50-caliber machine weapons — extra firepower than all three Mitsubishis mixed, suggesting Japanese troops may need gotten in a fortunate shot or, extra doubtless, merely contributed to its demise by driving it down till it was caught within the blast of one in all its personal bombs. Regardless of the trigger, Van Voorhis’ Privateer crashed into the lagoon 700 yards from the enemy base, killing its total crew.

Van Voorhis was posthumously promoted to commander and on Aug. 1, 1946, his widow, Kathryn, obtained his Medal of Honor for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity,” from Adm. James Forrestal. His co-pilot, Lt. Herschel Oehlert Jr., obtained the Navy Cross and the remainder of the crew obtained the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Van Voorhis’ stays have been discovered and interred on the Jefferson Memorial Cemetery Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, alongside a few of his crew members who died alongside him. A memorial marker to him was erected at Arlington cemetery on March 15, 1950. On July 28, 1956 a destroyer escort, DE-1028 (later rerated as a frigate) was christened in Van Voorhis’ honor.