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| Avenger pilot David Robertson served in VT-17 on the USS Bunker Hill. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35274417/david-hall-robertson https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TBF-1C_of_VT-17_takes_off_from_USS_Bunker_Hill_(CV-17)_c1943.jpg |
David Hall Robertson never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Announcement: Later this month we will be starting a project that will result in the stories of all 400,000 plus of the World War 2 fallen at one online location. There will be an accompanying smart phone app to allow users visiting any war memorial to scan the fallen serviceman's name and be linked to his story. Watch this blog or join the WW2 Fallen 100 Facebook page to learn of upcoming details.
David was born on January 18, 1920 in Ohio. His parents John and Ethel were born in Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. His paternal grandparents were from Scotland. His father worked as a realty company manager and later as a fiction writer. Still later he worked as a business manager for a sanitarium. David had one older brother and two younger brothers. By 1940 David had completed one year of college and was still living with his parents.
He enlisted in the navy in December 1941, a week before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was trained as a pilot and eventually served as a lieutenant (j.g.) in Torpedo Squadron 17 aboard the carrier USS Bunker Hill. VT-17 was commissioned in January 1943. They first started flying TBF-1 Avengers in February. By summer it was assigned to Bunker Hill. In October 1943 it arrived at Pearl Harbor, ready for action in the Pacific.
In November 1943 VT-17 flew its first combat mission on a strike against Rabaul. Further missions were flown for more than three months, with flyers lost on a regular basis, until Bunker Hill was sent back to Pearl Harbor in March 1944. VT-17 was then transported back to the states where it operated out of NAS Alameda.
On May 23, 1944 Lt. Robertson was killed in training accident in San Francisco Bay.
His cenotaph grave is at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California
Last year on this date I profiled submariner Theodore Feiock, USS Pickerel. You can read about Theodore here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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