The Story of the Only Time the U.S. Navy Buried a Fallen Aviator Inside His Plane

The Battle of Manila Bay

On November 5, 1944, during the Battle of Manila Bay, the U.S. Navy carried out a mission that seemed routine by the standards of the Pacific war. From the flight deck of the carrier USS Essex, squadrons of aircraft launched into the sky. Their orders were clear: engage enemy planes and strike targets on the ground and at sea.

The noise of engines, bursts of anti-aircraft fire, and the constant rattle of machine guns filled the air. For many crews, this was another dangerous but familiar day of combat. Yet on this day, one torpedo bomber’s story would become unlike any other in the Navy’s history.

A Fatal Strike

A TBF Avenger torpedo bomber came under heavy fire from a Japanese cruiser. Enemy shells struck the aircraft, and one exploded inside the rear gun turret. The blast tore apart the gunner’s position, killing him instantly. Despite the destruction, the pilot wrestled with the controls and managed to bring the crippled Avenger back to the Essex.

When the plane landed, the damage was clear. The tail section was ruined, the turret destroyed, and the gunner’s body trapped within the wreckage. His remains were badly mangled, making removal almost impossible without dismantling large parts of the aircraft.

A Grim Reality

Identification was recorded through his dog tags and fingerprints. But the crew faced a difficult truth: the gunner’s body had become inseparable from the shattered plane. The Avenger itself was beyond repair, filled with flammable fuel and wrecked systems. Keeping it aboard would have created a hazard, while space on the carrier was far too valuable to waste.

The officers made a decision born of both necessity and respect. The gunner would not be removed from the aircraft. Instead, he would be buried at sea, still inside the Avenger he had flown in combat.

The Burial at Sea

The carrier’s crew prepared the aircraft for its final descent. A bugler played “Taps” as the Avenger was moved to the edge of the deck. The men stood in silence as the damaged bomber, with their fallen comrade inside, was eased into the Pacific. Slowly, the plane slipped beneath the waves, carrying the gunner to a resting place unlike any other.

This moment became the only time in U.S. Navy history that an aviator was buried at sea inside his own plane. It spared the crew from a harrowing recovery, cleared the deck for operations, and honored their shipmate in the most practical yet solemn way.