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Casualty Info
Home Town Wayland, NY
Last Address 102 Scott St Wayland, NY
Casualty Date Oct 24, 1944
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Pacific
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Manila American Cemetery - Taguig City, Philippines
Wall/Plot Coordinates (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
ARM3 Shetler flew on 29 missions as a member of VF-15. The plane he was aboard was shot down during the 2nd Battle of Philippine Sea. His remains were not recovered.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 6083898
Distinguished Flying Cross
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Aviation Radioman Third Class Carl Edward Shetler (NSN: 6083898), United States Naval Reserve, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as aircrewman of a diver bomber embarked in U.S.S. ESSEX during the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea on 24 October 1944. General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 345 (December 1945) Action Date: October 24, 1944 Service: Navy Rank: Aviation Radioman Third Class Division: U.S.S. Essex
Air Medal
For meritorious acheivement in aerial flight as Combat Aircrewman of Carrier-based Dive Bomber attached to Bomber Squadron 15 during action against enemy Japanese positions and shipping in the Pacific War Area from May 19 to Sept. 24, 1944. Courageous and skillful in the performance of duty, he participated in numerous strikes against the enemy on MArcus and Wake, in the Marianas, Bonins, Palau and Philippine Islands during this period, rendering valiat service to his pilot and contributing materially to the success of thes hazardous missions.
The information contained in this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign (1944)
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
November / 1944
Description The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Operation Forager, was an offensive launched by United States forces against Imperial Japanese forces in the Mariana Islands and Palau in the Pacific Ocean between June and November, 1944 during the Pacific War. The United States offensive, under the overall command of Chester Nimitz, followed the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign and was intended to neutralize Japanese bases in the central Pacific, support the Allied drive to retake the Philippines, and provide bases for a strategic bombing campaign against Japan.
Beginning the offensive, United States Marine Corps and United States Army forces, with support from the United States Navy, executed landings on Saipan in June, 1944. In response, the Imperial Japanese Navy's combined fleet sortied to attack the U.S. Navy fleet supporting the landings. In the resulting aircraft carrier Battle of the Philippine Sea (the so-called “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”) on 19–20 June, the Japanese naval forces were decisively defeated with heavy and irreplaceable losses to their carrier-borne and land-based aircraft.
Thereafter, U.S. forces executed landings on Guam and Tinian in July, 1944. After heavy fighting, Saipan was secured in July and Guam and Tinian in August, 1944. The U.S. then constructed airfields on Saipan and Tinian where B-29s were based to conduct strategic bombing missions against the Japanese mainland until the end of World War II, including the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In the meantime, in order to secure the flank for U.S. forces preparing to attack Japanese forces in the Philippines, in September, 1944, U.S. Marine and Army forces landed on the islands of Peleliu and Angaur in Palau. After heavy and intense combat on Peleliu, the island was finally secured by U.S. forces in November, 1944.
Following their landings in the Mariana and Palau Islands, Allied forces continued their ultimately successful campaign against Japan by landing in the Philippines in October, 1944 and the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands beginning in January, 1945.
