Harold Edward Dey

Corporal Harold Dey served with Marine Torpedo Squadron (VMTB) 143 during the campaign for the northern Solomon Islands. He regularly flew with 1Lt. Stephen W. Painter, Jr. in the pilot’s seat and PFC Charles S. Brewer manning the turret guns.

On 5 February 1944, the Painter crew took part in a heavy strike on Lakunai Airfield near Rabaul. Nearly 150 American aircraft bombed and strafed the field, leaving the runway “unserviceable.” Despite “intense and accurate heavy” anti-aircraft fire and Japanese fighter interceptors, only three of 24 TBF Avengers were hit. Unfortunately, Painter’s TBF-1 #23969 was badly damaged and did not return from the mission.

Fighter pilots reported seeing a TBF successfully set down in Blanche Bay between Credner Island and Lesson Point. “The probability is that Lt. Painter and his crew were captured by Japs,” noted the squadron War Diary. When nothing more was heard of the three Marines, they were declared dead on 17 January 1946.

Postwar records revealed that Painter had indeed been captured, held as a POW at Rabaul, and reportedly killed aboard the Japanese transport ship Kokai Maru, which was sunk by Allied aircraft on 21 February 1944. This date of death was accepted on 17 April 1947.  However, this story was fabricated to cover evidence of war crimes. Remains exhumed from a Rabaul POW camp showed evidence of execution – and several of the men found there had been on the Kokai Maru roster.

However, neither Brewer nor Dey was ever reported in Japanese custody. They may have been captured and killed elsewhere, or never escaped the sinking aircraft.

Note: For most of their mission history, Brewer is listed as the turret gunner with Dey on the radio. On their last mission, the positions are reversed. It is not known if this is a clerical error or crewmates switching positions to gain extra experience.