Atlantic Ocean – August 18, 1943
Martin Mariner
U. S. Navy photo
On August 18, 1943, a U. S. Navy Martin Mariner with twelve men aboard took off from the Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island for an anti-submarine training flight. While participating in the exercise the plane crashed into the ocean a few miles off Montauk Point, Long Island, and all aboard perished.
The crew was identified as:
Lt. (Jg) Joseph Prentice Willetts of Roslyn, New York. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82018316/joseph-prentice-willetts
Lt (Jg.) William S. Anderson of Bay City, Texas.
Lt. (Jg.) John H. Wenzel of Houston, Texas. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/81331987/john-henry-wenzel
Aviation Machinist Mate 3/C John Burnett Bub of Cleveland, Ohio. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/258818458/john-burnett-bub
Aviation Radioman 3/C Irving L. Marshall Jr. of Baltimore, Maryland.
Aviation Radioman Thomas Joseph Davies of Philadelphia, Penn.
Seaman 2/C Bruce F. Shankle of Thomasville, North Carolina. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101223567/bruce-franklin-shankle
Aviation Machinist Mate 1/C William G. O’Brien of Norfolk, Virginia.
Aviation Radioman 1/C Frank E. Verran of Elizabethtown, Tenn. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/233337960/frank-e-verran
Seaman 2/C Dale H. Pixter of Mt. Pleasant Iowa.
Aviation Ordinance Mate Arthur Eager of Whittier, California.
Aviation Machinist Mate 3/C Richard J. Willauer of Brooklyn, New York.
Sources:
Providence Journal, “Navy Identifies 12 Plane Victims”, August 20, 1943.
www.findagrave.com
