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Nicole Summers, MMFN
to remember
Bass, Harry Brinkley, LCDR.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Beaumont
Last Address With VF-74 deployed in the Mediterranean on USS Kasaan Bay.
Casualty Date Aug 20, 1944
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Artillery, Rocket, Mortar
Location France
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Roselawn Memorial Park - Little Rock, Arkansas
Wall/Plot Coordinates Lot 23 G 6 in Wooddale Section
Central Pacific Campaign (1941-43)/Operation Cockpit
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1943
Description Operation Cockpit was a bombing raid by aircraft from two Allied naval forces (Force 69 and Force 70) on 19 April 1944. The forces were made up of 22 warships, including two aircraft carriers, from the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, French Navy, Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy, and United States Navy. The targets were Japanese port and oil facilities on Sabang Island (off the northern tip of Sumatra).
The raid was launched at 5.30am on 19 April, with 17 Barracuda bombers and 13 Corsair fighters from HMS Illustrious and 29 Dauntless and Avenger bombers and 24 Hellcat fighters from USS Saratoga. It was highly successful, the Japanese were caught by surprise, there was no fighter opposition. Sabang harbour and the nearby Lho Nga airfield were bombed. Two merchant ships were hit and two Japanese destroyers and an escort ship strafed and set on fire. Thirty Japanese aircraft were destroyed on the airfield and a direct hit by a 1000-pound bomb set a large oil tank on fire. The power-station, barracks and wireless station were badly damaged. The submarine HMS Tactician reported large fires in the dockyard burning fiercely hours after the fleet had left the area.
Twelve US aircraft were hit by anti-aircraft fire; all but one made it back to Saratoga. The pilot of the one lost aircraft was recovered by Tactician, under fire.
The Japanese had been caught by surprise and the raid was a clear success - Somerville said that the Japanese "had been caught with their kimonos up". The destruction of oil installations and shipping successfully contributed to the cessation of Japanese offensives in the Arakan. There was a follow-up raid on Surabaya, Java in May 1944, named Operation Transom.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1943
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Designated Carrier Division (CarDiv) 22, they joined the fast carriers of the 5th Fleet on 27 March and sped west to the Palaus. There, the planes of CarDiv 22 flew patrols over vulnerable tankers before setting course for Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides on 4 April.
In this, the closing phase of the New Guinea campaign, SANTEE fueled and provisioned near Espiritu Santo from 7 to 10 April; then sailed to Purvis Bay in the Solomons on the 13th.
CarDiv 22 joined CarDiv 24 and a destroyer squadron on 16 April and set course for New Guinea.
SANTEE's air group aided in destroying 100 enemy aircraft and ripping up enemy airfields before the landings, prior to departing for Manus Island in the Admiralties on 24 April.
