George H. Hatherill

	NAME George Harland Hatherill	NICKNAME —	SERVICE NUMBER 394232
	UNIT VMSB-144 Radioman / Gunner	HOME OF RECORD 69½ East Avenue, Wellsboro, PA	NEXT OF KIN Mother, Mrs. Marion Hatherill
	DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1921 at Wellsboro, PA	ENTERED SERVICE May 19, 1942 at Syracuse, NY	DATE OF LOSS May 28, 1943
	REGION Vanuatu (New Hebrides)	CAMPAIGN / AREA Efate	CASUALTY TYPE Non-battle death
CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS PFC George H. Hatherill was a radioman and gunner assigned to VMSB-144, a Marine dive-bomber squadron stationed at Efate in the New Hebrides. On the evening of 28 May 1943, Hatherill and pilot 1Lt. Archie L. Scoggin, Jr., climbed into a Dauntless bomber (SBD-4 BuNo 10354) and prepared for takeoff – either for a routine patrol or to participate in a scheduled night training exercise. Minutes after takeoff, the plane’s engine failed and horrified witnesses saw the bomber spin down into the sea. Search parties could find no survivors. Divers found the wreck of #10354 the next day, but the bodies of Scoggin and Hatherhill were either missing or could not be retrieved.
INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS —	LAST KNOWN RANK Private First Class	STATUS OF REMAINS Not recovered.	MEMORIALS Wellsboro Cemetery Honolulu Memorial

Biography:
Contact the webmaster for more information about this Marine.

The plane made a normal takeoff and began a turn to the left. Witnesses reported that after reaching and altitude of approximately 200 feet the plane was in a very steep bank to the left. It began losing altitude and the motor stopped and the plane spun in, spinning to the right.

Another report by a solider living near the beach near the VMSB-144 area was that he heard the plane’s motor sputtering and then it seemed pick up again, but immediately thereafter it cut out and as he ran out to the road bordering the shore the sound of the plane crashing into the water reached him.

An intensive search of the area was immediately begun… shore searchlights were turned on… the search continued for more than two hours but an oil slick on the water and the rubber ration container attached to the life raft were the only things found.

– excerpt from the war diary of VMSB-144, 25 May 1943.