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Casualty Info
Home Town Coatesville, Pennsylvania
Last Address Robert is remembered on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines
Casualty Date Oct 13, 1944
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Pacific
Conflict World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Asiatic-Pacific Specified Raids (1944)/Formosa Air Battle
Location of Interment Buried at Sea, Pacific Ocean
Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign (1944)/Battle of Philippine Sea
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
June / 1944
Description The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War. The battle was the last of five major "carrier-versus-carrier" engagements between American and Japanese naval forces, and pitted elements of the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet against ships and aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mobile Fleet and nearby island garrisons.
The aerial part of the battle was nicknamed the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot by American aviators for the severely disproportional loss ratio inflicted upon Japanese aircraft by American pilots and anti-aircraft gunners. During a debriefing after the first two air battles a pilot from USS Lexington remarked "Why, hell, it was just like an old-time turkey shoot down home!" The outcome is generally attributed to American improvements in pilot and crew training and tactics, technology (including the top-secret anti-aircraft proximity fuze), and ship and aircraft design. Although at the time the battle appeared to be a missed opportunity to destroy the Japanese fleet, the Imperial Japanese Navy had lost the bulk of its carrier air strength and would never recover. During the course of the battle, American submarines torpedoed and sank two of the largest Japanese fleet carriers taking part in the battle.
This was the largest carrier-to-carrier battle in history.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
June / 1944
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories In June the Wasp provided air support for the invasion of the Marinas Islands of Saipan and Tinian. During this operation the Japanese reacted, sending their fleet of carriers with massive air strikes to foil the invasion. This resulted in the Battle of the Philippine Sea on June 19th 1944. This battle also became known as the "Great Marinas Turkey Shoot" because the Japanese lost 2 carriers and 346 aircraft while we lost only 30 aircraft. During this battle many of our aircraft were returning at night near empty of fuel. The Carrier Group Commander, Admiral Mitscher ordered all ships to turn on their lights to guide the aircraft home - an unprecedented practice during war. Still half of the aircraft landed on the wrong carriers, nearly 80 aircraft ran out of fuel and ditched.
The Wasp then supported the landings in the Palau Islands in September, and then staged a number of raids softening the Japanese Defenses of the Philippines. The Task Force supported the landings on Leyte Island in the Philippines in early October, and then proceeded to attack the Japanese defenses on Formosa (Taiwan).
