Thomas John Gratzek

Second Lieutenant Thomas Gratzek was a Marine pilot  with VMSB-241, a scout-bomber squadron based at Midway Island in 1942. He was part of the First Section, First Division, led by Major Lofton R. Henderson, and usually flew with Sergeant Charles W. Recke as his radioman and gunner.

At 0610 hours on 4 June 1942, VMSB-241 took off from Midway and rendezvoused at “Point Affirm” – a safe distance from the airfield, out of the way of an incoming Japanese strike force. A radio message sent them on course to attack an enemy carrier; a two-hour flight brought them within sight of the IJN Hiryū. The carrier sent up a wall of flak, and her fighters quickly climbed to engage the unescorted American bombers.

Captain Armand DeLalio watched nervously as the “Zekes” worked over the leading planes. He saw Gratzek and Recke’s bomber “in position above and ahead” as a Japanese pilot made a head-on diving attack. “Lieutenant Gratzek’s plane… broke into flames around the engine and he left the formation,” DeLalio later reported. He was the last American to see SBD-2 #2119.

Gratzek and Recke were reported as missing in action following the Hiryū strike. They were officially declared dead on 5 June 1943.