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Casualty Info
Home Town Pasadena, CA
Last Address With VT-8 deployed aboard USS Hornet in the Pacific.
Remembered on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Hawaii
Casualty Date Jun 05, 1942
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Buried at Sea - N/A, Pacific Ocean
Wall/Plot Coordinates Lost at Sea in the Pacific with VT-8
Military Service Number 3 824 448
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Robert Kingsbury Huntington was a naval aircrewman and member of Torpedo Squadron 8 (or VT-8). Along with his entire squadron, Huntington was shot down during the Battle of Midway, on 4-5 June 1942.
Comments/Citation:
The USS Robert K. Huntington (DD-781), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, was named in his honor.
Robert K. Huntington attended The Lakeside School in Seattle, Washington in 1940 after transferring from Pasadena College.
Distinguished Flying Cross
Awarded for Action During World War II
Service: Navy
Rank: Aviation Radioman Third Class
Division: U.S.S. Hornet (CV-8)
CItation:
"The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) to Aviation Radioman Third Class Robert Kingsbury Huntington (NSN: 3824448), United States Navy, for heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight as radioman and free machine gunner of a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane of Torpedo Squadron EIGHT (VT-8), attached to the U.S.S. HORNET (CV-8), during an attack against enemy Japanese forces in the "Air Battle of Midway," on 4 June 1942.
...
Grimly aware of the hazardous consequences of flying without fighter protection, and with insufficient fuel to return to his carrier, Aviation Radioman Third Class Huntington resolutely, and with no thought of his own life, pressed home his attack with utter disregard for his own personal safety and in the face of tremendous anti-aircraft barrage and overwhelming fighter opposition.
...
His gallant spirit of self-sacrifice and his conscientious devotion to the fulfillment of a vastly important mission contributed materially to the success of our forces and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
