Just 23 years old when he was killed instantly by anti-aircraft fire while serving as the turret gunner in a TBM Avenger during the Battle of Manila (3 February - 3 March 1945), Aviation Machinist Mate Second Class Loyce Edward Deen was so badly shot up that he couldn't be removed from his aircraft. And so the Navy crewmen serving aboard the USS Essex, which was home to Deen's torpedo squadron, VT-15, covered up the rear of the badly damaged plane and sent it and Deen to the ocean's depths, in a type of burial at sea that had never happened before in WWII. Here's the clip:
From left to right: TBM Avenger pilot Lt. Robert Cosgrove, Radioman Digby Denzek, and rear turret gunner Loyce Deen
The Avenger, which was hit hard by flak, managed to limp back to the Essex. The video shows the plane landing, and the ship's crew covering up the rear turret and then ceremoniously rolling the aircraft off the ship's fantail.
Prior to the battle in which Deen gave the last full measure of devotion to his country, he and his two fellow crewmen had flown in numerous battles, typically returning to their aircraft carrier with a badly damaged plane. Deen had also been wounded in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, but instead of leaving to recover aboard a hospital ship, he elected to stay with his Avenger and its crew on the carrier so that he could return to the fight that much sooner (and also stay with that particular crew). There's also a website dedicated to him as well as his crew's heroics during WWII.
The number of lives sacrificed to win WWII is chilling, but metrics alone are insufficient in describing just how truly brutal that conflict was. War is a seriously nasty business, and all the glory that we attach to it is mostly created after the fact. Being blown to pieces and then tossed off the stern of a ship, inside the broken aircraft you'd died in shortly before, is a real reminder of that fact.
Below, a TBM Avenger and its crew getting ready to fly:
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
From left to right: TBM Avenger pilot Lt. Robert Cosgrove, Radioman Digby Denzek, and rear turret gunner Loyce Deen
The Avenger, which was hit hard by flak, managed to limp back to the Essex. The video shows the plane landing, and the ship's crew covering up the rear turret and then ceremoniously rolling the aircraft off the ship's fantail.
Prior to the battle in which Deen gave the last full measure of devotion to his country, he and his two fellow crewmen had flown in numerous battles, typically returning to their aircraft carrier with a badly damaged plane. Deen had also been wounded in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, but instead of leaving to recover aboard a hospital ship, he elected to stay with his Avenger and its crew on the carrier so that he could return to the fight that much sooner (and also stay with that particular crew). There's also a website dedicated to him as well as his crew's heroics during WWII.
The number of lives sacrificed to win WWII is chilling, but metrics alone are insufficient in describing just how truly brutal that conflict was. War is a seriously nasty business, and all the glory that we attach to it is mostly created after the fact. Being blown to pieces and then tossed off the stern of a ship, inside the broken aircraft you'd died in shortly before, is a real reminder of that fact.
Below, a TBM Avenger and its crew getting ready to fly:
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
Last edited by:
big kahuna: Nov 19, 18 16:14