![]() ![]() ![]() Classmates I interviewed for A Sentimental Journey: Memoirs of a Wartime Boomtown remembered “Baggy” as likeable, serious, quiet, and a “fine young man” attaining many superlatives. He graduated from NHHS in 1934 as senior class president, and North Carolina in 1940 where he played football. His gallant perseverance and utter disregard for his own personal safety were contributing factors to the success achieved by our forces.” Peiffer’s posthumous Navy Cross citation reads: “With fortitude and resolute devotion to duty, pressed home his attack in the face of a formidable barrage of anti-aircraft fire and fierce fighter opposition. ![]() But his Dauntless suffered fuel exhaustion on return and was never found. Ultimately he was promoted to rear admiral.Įnsign Carl David Peiffer, Dickinson’s Wilmington squadron mate, also likely struck Kaga. Earlier, Dickinson sunk the first enemy vessel on the surface following Pearl Harbor, and sunk a ship in February’s Marshall Islands raid, each meriting the Navy Cross. The Midway naval defeat halted Japan’s eastward sweep across the Pacific toward Hawaii and the mainland. He was executive officer of Scouting Six of Dauntless SBD-3 bombers. She made no attempt to change course.” In the aftermath, “I began thinking it was time to get myself away from there and try to get back alive.”ĭickinson graduated from New Hanover High School in 1932 and the Naval Academy in 1934. “The carrier was racing along at 30 knots. The destroyer USS Phelps rescued and delivered him to his ship.ĭickinson’s 1942 Star-News interview and book, Flying Guns: Cockpit Record of a Naval Pilot From Pearl Harbor Though Midway, detailed what he witnessed. He parachuted safely, commandeered another aircraft, and hunted the attackers.After bombing Kaga, he put his plane in a stall, watching the action and bombs hitting the deck.Returning to the Enterprise, his aircraft suffered fuel exhaustion, necessitating open-sea ditching. 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft shot him down, killing the rear-seat gunner. While flying into Pearl Harbor’s Ford Island from his carrier, the USS Enterprise, on Dec. Being a serious student of the battle and the three Wilmingtonians who fought there, I looked for recognizable Dickinson links through dialog, innuendo, and scenes. ![]()
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