February 2026 - MGlenn Ross

For US Naval Aviators, Non-Combat Deaths Outnumbered Those in Combat

By Glenn | February 16, 2026 |

USS Franklin Deck Log for the afternoon and evening of 16 February 1945. It mentions the deaths of two pilots in a training exercise.

16-18 Steaming as before. 1622 F4U-1D Bu. No. 82533, pilot 2nd Lieut. Clare R. Beeler, (132162), USMCR, and F4U-1D Bu. No. 82559, pilot 2nd Lieut. Herbert D. Scramuzza, (031516), USMCR, collided in mid-air during diving practice on ship. Both pilots were lost at sea at Lat. 20-00 N., Long. 158-39 W.

102nd “Ozark” Infantry Division Oral History of Maury Ross

By Glenn | February 10, 2026 |

I’m pausing my research into USS Franklin to tell you a little about my father, who was a World War II veteran, seeing combat as a private first class in the U.S. Army’s 102nd “Ozark” Infantry Division. Dad grew up in Rome, MS, a very small farming town in the Mississippi Delta. He had a…