Nov. 5, 1944: a dark day.

     The Essex torpedo planes were told to attack a light cruiser anchored between Cavite and the Manila Bay breakwater.  Only Cosgrove found the cruiser.  It was supposed to be a milk run.  In fact, the ship was ready.  He went straight in and dropped his torpedo at close range.  The anti-aircraft fire was intense because he was the only attacker.  He said the AA shells were visible, zipping by the plane like bees.
     They took a hit in the starboard side that badly damaged the controls.  Another round entered the cockpit over Robert's shoulder, and exploded in the turret behind him, decapitating Deen.

Plane Crew:  Digby Denzek, radio man from Grand Rapids, Michigan;  Robert Cosgrove, pilot from New Orleans and  Loyse Deen, turret gunner from Altus, Oklahoma.

Poor Denzek called up from his radio compartment below the turret saying "Deen's been hit, I've got blood and teeth raining down on me!"  Cosgrove had to use all his strength on the stick to keep the plane in the air to get back to Essex while trying to calm his traumatized radioman.

Cosgrove folds the wings after No. 93's last flight.  The plane was damaged so badly that it was decided to bury Dean in it.  The Victory at Sea episode "Conquest of Micronesia" recorded the scene.  The service and Deen's burial are shown below.

A deck crewman took Dean's fingerprints, then covered the turret with a Navy blanket.

The funeral service was particularly sad because the squadron was just days from the end of its six month tour.  Admiral Sherman and David McDonald, XO of the Essex are in the crowd of mourners.

The only time in Naval history that a flyer has been buried at sea in his plane.
Please look once again at the intense, dark-eyed Loyse Deen at the top of the
page, and remember him.

Deen's brief epitaph in Cosgrove's flight log reflects the pressure of war.

During the funeral, Kamikaze planes were headed for the Essex.  One got through the Essex perimeter, but was shot down by the AA gunners.  Another hit the nearby Lexington, killing 50 men.

The next day, with a new airplane and crew, Cosgrove flew another mission against Japanese shipping in Manila Harbor.

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