In November 1943 he was assigned to the unit on the USS Yorktown (CV-10), flying Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters.
He became a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II and, fifteen days short of his twenty-sixth birthday, was killed on a training mission off Daytona Beach, Florida, when his Grumman Hellcat crashed for still-unknown reasons.
Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine, was originally constructed and occupied in March 1943, and was first commissioned on April 15, 1943, to train and form-up Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm pilots to fly squadrons of the Chance Vought F4U Corsair, and of the Grumman TBF Avenger and F6F Hellcat, for the British Naval Command.
The raid was launched at 5.30am on 19 April, with 17 Barracuda bombers and 13 Corsair fighters from HMS Illustrious and 29 Dauntless and Avenger bombers and 24 Hellcat fighters from USS Saratoga.
Forty-three Avenger bombers, 12 Firefly fighter-bombers with rockets and fifty Hellcat, Corsair and Seafire fighters were launched, approaching with the sun behind them and diving from 9000 feet to 3000 feet to release their bombs.