Ha Ha good plan. My dad was mostly on an obscure carrier called the USS Chenango which I linked in a comment above. Oddly, he almost never spoke of the time. We have no idea how her earned all the medals. Its on his official discharge papers but he never spoke of combat. Only that he liked the food and that he thought he suffered less than those doing infantry type fighting. The only stories he ever told us were when he had an engine failure during combat, ditched into the sea, and earned the name "Corky" because his buddies all said he was bobbing up and down just like a cork.

Thank you. I have no clue where or when this was taken, and only found found it years after his death when his younger brother died. We also only have a few black and whites from those times, mostly group pictures and such. This one stands out. I wish I had seen this picture while he lived, to get the story behind it.

Thank you I am impressed with your knowledge! He always said he flew Hellcats and loved them, but I didn't know if this actually was a Hellcat or just something he happened to lean against for a photo.