WWII Navy Aviation Hero

I found this story about Loyce Deen on the internet yesterday after a friend had sent me a short video about the loss of a sailor who was killed during a raid on Japanese battle cruisers in Manila harbor during October of 1944. I have based my story on what I found on the internet and other stories I have read in books about WWII.

Loyce Deen was an aviation machinist mate (gunner) who was was assigned to VT-15, part of Air Group 15 on board the USS Essex. He was part of an air crew on a Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber. The plane looked like this below.

Torpedo bombers by Douglas aircraft and Grumman aircraft were obsolete by the mid-thirties. For them to attack with torpedoes required them to attack from a low altitude (about 100 feet) on a long slow, straight run toward a Japanese warship. Japanese gunners were very adept with their antiaircraft 20 and 40 millimeter cannons. In 1942 at the battle of Midway, three squadrons of torpedo bombers by Douglas attacked the Japanese carrier forces. Of 45 US torpedo planes that attacked, one plane got back to the US carriers and it was so shot up it ditched into the sea beside one carrier. There were two survivors out of 135 air crewmen. That lesson led to using the Grumman and Douglas torpedo planes as regular bombers (1000 pound payload, which was not bad back then) and as close air support planes.

Loyce had been wounded by shrapnel during the first raid on Manila bay on the day before his death. He could have avoided going out on his last day, but he had the corpsman in sick bay wrap him up so he could be on the second raid the next day. That is the stuff true heroes are made of. Below is a picture of the plane Loyce was killed in that day, just as it landed. There are three sections on the cockpit, pilot forward, radio middle and gunner in back. Note the center glass is broken and just below the gun turret are two large holes that were opened by 40 millimeter Japanese cannons, killing Loyce. The picture does not show all the holes in the wings, but the video did.

The plane Loyce was killed in was so shot up it never flew again. In fact the navy held services for Loyce with his body still in the plane and afterward it was pushed to the stern and then pushed over the edge and into the sea. He is the only known man in WWII purposely buried at sea in his aircraft.

Loyce was/is a hero in his home town of Altus, Oklahoma, but if not for the web page his story would not be before you today. Note that during the thirties and into WWII the navy actively sought to recruit young men from Oklahoma because they were strong and had great work ethics. Though Loyce’s fame is known by just a few, there were other crewmen you may have heard of who flew in the VT squadrons. One shown here you may recognize, if you look closely you will see one George H W Bush the 41st president of the US.

Here is another  famous VT squadron crewman.

Old men start wars, but wars are fought by very young men, many of whom never have the chance to become old men.