Hell-Diver's Vengeance

Ford Island barracks, 2300 Hours, Sunday, 7 December 1941:...in a state of delirium, cold and clammy from shock, I mumble into my pillow: "I'll get a Jap battlewagon if it's the last thing..."

Midway Battle, June 5, 1942: The big one, Admiral Yamamoto's flagship...world's largest, most fearsome dreadnaught...the mighty Yamato, gets away unscathed. That's IT! Now IT has a name...IT replaces my imagined, nameless, hulk...the battleship I swore to get."

CASU 24, Wildwood, NJ, September 1944: I hook up with the Navy's finest dive bomber pilot, Lt. Hugh Grubiss, as a CAC in the SB2C Hell-Diver.

Sunday, 7 April 1945: Lt. Grubiss pushes over into our dive on the zig-zagging Yamato. I yell, "Squirm, you _ _ _, that's more than the Arizona could do." Seconds later..."