Ervin W. Hatfield

	NAME Ervin Willard Hatfield	NICKNAME —	SERVICE NUMBER O-9401
	UNIT VMSB-131 Pilot	HOME OF RECORD 1104 Pacific Street, St. Paul, MN	NEXT OF KIN Mother, Mrs. Olga M. Hatfield
	DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1919 in Amboy, MN	ENTERED SERVICE June 12, 1941 (Navy Reserve) April 8, 1942 (commission)	DATE OF LOSS April 8, 1943
	REGION Solomon Islands	CAMPAIGN / AREA Russell Island Group	CASUALTY TYPE Missing In Action Declared Dead April 9, 1945
CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS First Lieutenant Ervin W. Hatfield was a Marine pilot assigned to VMSB-131, a torpedo bomber squadron operating out of Henderson Field, Guadalcanal. On 8 April 1943, Captain William Hayter led six of the squadron’s planes in a strike against Kahili, Bougainville. The Avengers ran into a fierce storm and never reached the target. Only one bomber returned to Guadalcanal – the rest, including Lieutenant Hatfield’s TBF-1 05970, disappeared. Rescue operations located three survivors stranded in the Russell Islands – including TSGT William J. Lares, the turret gunner for Hatfield’s Avenger.* No trace of the pilot was found, and Hatfield was declared dead on 9 April 1945.
INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart	LAST KNOWN RANK First Lieutenant posthumous Captain	STATUS OF REMAINS Not recovered.	MEMORIALS Manila American Cemetery

* The identity of the third member of Hatfield’s crew (radio operator) is not currently known.

Biography:
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April 8 1943
Six planes take off at 0200 along with other TBFs from Navy squadrons to bomb Kahili Airfield. The weather report received was not too good and the Black Cats on the weather hops reported very bad flying conditions. Someone slipped up as the flight was ordered out anyhow. Capt. Richey became separated from the other five planes in the flight and returned hours after experiencing considerable difficulty in locating the field. Our other five planes did not return and were listed as missing. Out of the eighteen Navy plans participating in this attack, four were unable to take off, seven became lost and returned early, while five reached the target, dropping on what they thought to be the field, and two did not return. VMSB-131 has been hard hit and we were a dejected lot when there were no reports whatsoever of our pilots and gunners. Searches were immediately started with our TBFs and the other outfits cooperated also giving good coverage of the entire area. All searches were negative.

– excerpt from the war diary of VMSB-131, April 1943.

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