Westerly, Rhode Island – September, 20, 1943
U.S. Navy SBD Dauntless
U.S. Navy Photo.
On September 20, 1943, Ensign Charles Frederick Leiserson, age 21, was piloting an SBD-4 Dauntless, (Bu. No. 10470), on a gunnery training mission when the aircraft crashed and burned in Westerly, R.I. Also aboard was Ensign Raymond R. Strimel, age 28. Both men were killed.
Ensign Leiserson moved to Washington, D. C. in 1933, and upon graduation from Woodrow Wilson High School, attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduating in 1942. He worked at Grumman Aircraft in Bethpage, Long Island, and enlisted in the Navy in September, 1942, and earned his pilot’s wings at Corpus Christi, Texas. He continued his training at Fort Lauderdale, Florida before being sent to Rhode Island. He’s buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49246487/charles-frederick-leiserson
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76632979/charles-frederick-leiserson
Ensign Strimel was born in Marietta, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University and the University of of Oklahoma. He’s buried in East Lawn Memorial Park in Reno, Ohio.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112344385/raymond-r-strimel
Sources:
U. S. Navy Accident Report #44-8706, dated September 20, 1943
The Evening Star, (Washington, D.C.), “Ensign Charles F. Leiserson Killed In Rhode Island Crash”, September 21, 1943, pg. A-8
www.findagrave.com
