William Holden's brother

[Mike K]

The famous actor William Holden, his younger brother was shot down and killed on a mission up in PNG , flying a Hellcat aircraft.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...stfield-beedle

"Ensign Beedle, who had already destroyed two Japanese Zeros, had been part of a carrier-based squadron of Hellcats escorting dive bombers on the raid. The Hellcats were attacked by half a dozen Zeros, and Beedle's plane was apparently hit as he turned to intercept a pair of Japanese planes that concentrated on him. Said his section leader: 'His Hellcat swept upward in a lazy loop, pulled out just above the water, flew level for a few seconds, then plunged into the whitecaps. His guns were still blasting.'"


Interesting that the Japanese could still muster together six flying zeros at that time in that location, the date Jan 45.