Willis Plato Rollins

Staff Sergeant Willis Rollins flew as a rear seat gunner and radio operator with VMSB-235 during the campaign for the Solomon Islands. He was a veteran of numerous combat operations, and usually flew with the same pilot, 1Lt. William A. Monfort – a professional footballer and quarterback for the Chicago Bears.

On 16 December 1943, sixty planes from four squadrons (VMSB-235, VMSB-236, VB-98, and VC-40) staged a massive bombing and strafing raid against Japanese positions on Sohana Island and Bonis Airdrome. The defenders put up “meager and inaccurate” anti-aircraft fire and, although some planes received minor damage, none were knocked down over the target. However, as the bombers headed back to their base, the engine in Lieutenant Monfort’s SBD-5 #28451 suddenly seized up and quit. The plane lurched downwards and collided with SBD-5 #35968 (1Lt. Herbert A. Oughton and Sergeant Henry M. Mateja of VMSB-236).

“Both planes went into violent spins and crashed into the sea,” observers reported. Pilots Monfort and Oughton managed to leap clear of the wreckage and parachute to safety; they were picked up a few hours later by a DUMBO out of Torokina. The gunners were not so fortunate. Rollins “perished with plane due to low altitude and difficulty of clearing obstacles in gunner’s cockpit.” Mateja’s chances were considered somehow better; he was carried as missing in action for a year and a day after the accident, but was ultimately declared dead.