Comments:
My fatLt. Russel gave the OK her served as a 20mm gunner with the ships Marine Detachment. He had made friends with an aircrew gunner in VF-31 and was pestering him to see if he could get a ride on an anti sub patrol. He said as long as its OK with my pilot and the pilot turned out to be Lt Russel,"The Beast".Lt. Russel gave the OK and the gunner got my father dressed out in the ready room,had him go up on the flight deck to the plane with his goggles down and instructed him, 'Dont touch anything" So my father went off the ship on a 4 hour anti sub patrol and landed. Technically, he was AWOL for those 4 hours, but i guess it was a trip he couldn't pass up. He was always grateful to Lt Russel for that hop!!!
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