 |
NAME William Henry Snee |
NICKNAME Bill |
SERVICE NUMBER O-12623 |
|
| UNIT VMF-121 Pilot |
HOME OF RECORD 7176 Amboy Road Tottenville, NY |
NEXT OF KIN Mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Snee |
||
| DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1921 at New York, NY |
ENTERED SERVICE October 21, 1941 (enlisted) August 4, 1942 (commissioned) |
DATE OF LOSS June 28, 1943 |
||
| REGION Solomon Islands |
CAMPAIGN / AREA Russell Islands |
CASUALTY TYPE Killed In Action |
||
| CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS First Lieutenant William H. Snee was a pilot assigned to VMF-121, a Marine fighter squadron based at Banika in the Russell Islands. Lieutenant Snee was assigned to the early morning “Knucklehead” patrol – a four-plane flight sent out to search for any intruders in the Russells. His Corsair (F4U-1 #02488) experienced a mechanical failure shortly after takeoff, and as Snee tried to return to the airfield, spun out of control and crashed into the sea near Lona Island. The aircraft exploded on impact, and no trace of Snee’s body was found. |
||||
| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS Purple Heart |
LAST KNOWN RANK First Lieutenant |
STATUS OF REMAINS Lost at sea. |
MEMORIALS Manila American Cemetery |
|
Biography:
Contact the webmaster for more information about this Marine.
[In the lagoon] I saw the wreckage of a Corsair. I knew then what fate had befallen Lieutenant Bill Snee. It was clear from the position of the wreckage that he had lost power after becoming airborne and had tried to land on his belly in the water following a tight turn to starboard. Clearly, the turn had gone badly – it was a longshot to begin with – and Snee had crashed. It remained to be seen if he had survived, but I made a silent bet against it on the basis of the mangled wreckage.
– from Ace! A Marine Night-Fighter Pilot in World War II by R. Bruce Porter.
(Porter describes the loss of Bill Snee as occurring on 30 June 1943)
Gallery:
