★★★ Memorial Monday ★★★
LCDR John Curtis, USN '35 was lost on this date (September 6) in 1943 when his F6F-3 Hellcat fighter crashed near Hawaii. Commanding officer of Fighting Squadron (VF) 24 and operating from USS Belleau Wood (CVL 24) at the time, in 1942 he had survived the sinking of both USS Yorktown (CV 5) at the Battle of Midway and USS Hornet (CV 8) at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
A native of Altoon, Pennsylvania, John's roommate wrote in the Lucky Bag:
NEED a radio fixed? Sparks devours anything in the radio field, especially QST magazines. In the spring, you'll find him training a crew for the sailing races. We suspect it was the urge to sail that brought Uncle John down to the sea and Annapolis. Dragging never greatly interested this "Pennsylvania Wolunteer;" a hop takes away too much of his craved sleep. Besides dripping showers and writing letters, reveille is John's principal antipathy. If we all could only do our studying when asleep, as Okell must do! The Bull sessions on how the Navy should be run make us sure that "Curcuss" will crash through for the benefit of all hands. He won't need the "breaks", you can't keep a good sailor down.
John was unmarried and survived by his sister and brother.
To Honor! ⚓
https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/JOHN_O._CURTIS,_LCDR,_USN