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Casualty Info
Home Town Fresno, CA
Last Address 1001 Haines ave Dallas, Texas
Casualty Date Jul 24, 1945
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Sea of Japan
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (VA) - Honolulu, Hawaii
Wall/Plot Coordinates Court 2 (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
LT Tabler served with VBF-1 aboard the USS Bennington when his aircraft was shot down over the Sea of Japan on July 25, 1945. His body was not recovered and he was declared dead in on July 25, 1946.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 130623
The information contained in this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
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.
