James Wentworth Boyden

James Boyden was born in Daytona, Florida, on 18 March 1921. His family moved to California in the 1920s, and young Jim – known locally as “Snow White,” possibly due to his fair complexion and light blond hair – attended Whittier High School with the class of 1939. A competent student and triple-varsity athlete, Boyden showed particular skill as a baseball catcher on Whittier’s championship team, and with the All-Southern California Conference as a Pomona College student.

Boyden dropped out of Pomona in early 1942 to become a Navy pilot. He trained at NATC Corpus Christi, receiving his “wings of gold” and a commission as a Marine Corps second lieutenant on 31 December 1942. Six months later, “Snow White” was posted to VMTB-233, a Marine torpedo-bomber squadron flying TBF Avengers in the South Pacific. He completed his first combat tour in the Solomon Islands, earning an Air Medal for courage under fire.

On 14 February 1944, VMTB-233 ordered a mission to lay mines in Rabaul’s Simpson Harbor. Dropping a Mark 12 naval mine from an Avenger required slow speed and low altitude, so planners decided to send three separate waves at one-hour intervals under cover of darkness. Group C – which included Boyden, radioman PFC Arthur J. Patrickus, and turret gunner PFC Bernard C. Pardun in Plane #102 – departed Piva at 0230 for the ninety-minute flight to Rabaul.

Unfortunately for the attackers, Japanese spotlight crews were on the alert – and “very accurate in picking up the planes and keeping them in the light.” Anti-aircraft gunners were also primed and ready, having battled two previous waves of attackers. Group C was badly mauled with three Avengers, including Boyden’s #102 (TBF-1C 24264), failing to return to base. VMTB-233 lost a total of six Avengers and eighteen Marines on the disastrous mission.

The entire crew of #102 was declared dead on 15 February 1945. Boyden was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross, while Patrickus and Pardun received Air Medals.