This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Donald Losey (Fallhiker), MM1
to remember
Tebo, Vernon Lawrence, LT.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Chicago, IL
Last Address 1512 East Gonzalez St Pensacola, FL
Casualty Date Apr 15, 1945
Cause MIA-Died in Captivity
Reason Intentional Homicide
Location Japan
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
The following history has been provided by Mr. Richard B. Cogdal of Urbana, Illinois, who was Mr. Tebo's shipmate.
"Our ship was an escort carrier--the Makassar Strait CVE91. I was assigned to the ship before it was commissioned, April 27, 1944. Our ship sailed all around the Pacific from that date: to Hawaii, the Admiralities, the Marshalls, Guam, Saipan, Tinian, etc. We at first delivered supplies and personnel all over the Pacific Ocean. Then in January, 1945, Air Squadron VC97 came aboard and we became a war ship. At Okinawa and Iwo Jima our planes covered refueling operations at sea--refueling the large carriers and cruisers, etc. The air squadron protected these operations. At Okinawa we delivered supplies, ammunition and rockets to the marines. The air squadron also protected these operations. The squadron also made strikes at several Japanese bases in the area. Lt. Tebo was shot down near a place called Kerma Rhetto on April 16, 1945. He was pilot and his crew consisted of a navigator and a bombardier. The crew had dropped their bombs and had flown back to photograph results when the tail of their plane was shot off. The 3 men parachuted to the ground but were rescued and taken prisoner. They were questioned and tortured and dragged through the village and killed. Two of them were beheaded. We did not know about all this until several years later. The village people were shocked and devastated by this cruelty. They now have erected a shrine in the village to honor these 3 men." - taken from University of Illinois records, Web site above, and Mr. Richard B. Cogdal, Urbana, Illinois
World War II/American Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Description The American Theater was a minor area of operations during World War II. This was mainly due to both North and South America's geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia. Thus, any threat by the Axis Powers to invade the mainland United States or other areas was considered negligible, allowing for American resources to be deployed in overseas theaters.
This article includes attacks on continental territory, extending 200 miles (320 km) into the ocean, which is today under the sovereignty of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several other smaller states, but excludes military action involving the Danish territory of Greenland, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Aleutian Islands. The most well known battles in North America during World War II were the Attack on Pearl Harbor (the first attack on US soil since the Battle of Ambos Nogales), the Aleutian Islands Campaign, the Battle of the St. Lawrence, and the attacks on Newfoundland.