★★★ Memorial Monday ★★★
LT Nels Gunderson, III, USN '46 was lost on May 2, 1956 when his F2H Banshee crashed on approach to USS Yorktown (CV 10).
In December 1950 he had to ditch his aircraft into the sea off the coast of Korea.
There wasn't much to the landing. Nothing much different from an arrested carrier landing except that when I looked up, the nose started to sink and water started to come in the cockpit. So, I stood up, looked down to see if my raft and chute were there, they were, so I stood on the edge of the cockpit and jumped away from the plane. I inflated my life jacket after I was well clear of the plane, took off my chute and broke out my raft. I inflated the raft and hopped in just as old 509 went down. I estimate this took about 30-45 seconds. So within 1 1/2 minutes my mode of transportation changed.
He was survived by his wife, their three children, his mother, and two brothers.
To Honor! ⚓
https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/NELS_A._GUNDERSON,_III,_LT,_USN