Being a gunner in World War II was a risky but crucial job, and in the intense air war over the Pacific, casualties were high. But oftentimes, in the chaos of battle, there was rarely time for organized funerals or burials. But in this video, we will go through the tragic story of the only airmen in history to be intentionally buried at sea still inside of his aircraft.

It is the spring of 1944, and while the Japanese forces in the Pacific are on the defensive, they are far from defeated. The resilient forces of the Imperial Japanese are fighting back hard against the Allies. The brave airmen of the Stars and Stripes, however, are showing that they won’t let up. One of these valiant airmen would be a man by the name of Loyce Edward Dean.

Loyce had recently passed gunnery training and had just been sent to the front to join Air Group 15. Here he was to be the rear gunner of a TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. The Avenger had recently come to the forefront of the U.S. Naval Air Forces, proving to be more than an adequate ship killer.

The Avenger

The Avenger was an excellent airplane. It was big, could carry a heavy, heavy load, but it was also a multi‑purpose airplane. It was not just the torpedo bomber, but they would use it for low‑level bombing as well, and it was a very good airplane.

In the TBF, however, there was one thing about the gunner’s position that was notably different than most of the other Navy bombers. This was the fact that it was not an open gunner position, but an enclosed turret. When you look at aircraft like the SBD Dauntless or the Avenger’s predecessor, the TBD Devastator, you can see that they have open turrets. But the Avenger’s gunner position, where Loyce Edwards was, was instead enclosed and a tight fit.

This protected the gunner in some ways, but also made other aspects of the job slightly more challenging. All gunners on these aircraft—I mean I can relate it more probably to the ball turret gunner on the B‑17—you’re kind of in there by yourself. You’re kind of alone. You’re in contact, obviously via intercom, but you know, you’re not in the cockpit with the pilot, even though you’re right behind him, you’re in a separate space. And so you’ve got to feel a little bit alone, so it’s got to be unnerving sometimes.

But it is hard work getting up into that gunner position. But you’re also on a radio and you’re on the radio with your bombardier guy who’s in the guts of the plane and the pilot. And you know, they have their communication, internal communication going on, so that’s who they’re talking to.

And the first thing that they established is looking out for each other. So that guy in that rear gunner position always had to be on the lookout for the tail so that the pilot could focus on what’s in front. And I’m sure that the pilot and gunner developed a pretty constructive relationship right up front to make sure that they could trust each other and they could, you know, give each other early enough warning when the time came. Because if you were dozing off or skylarking, it was, you know, you just lost half of your capability.

Unfortunately, this characteristic of the combat TBF would prove to be an important part of Loyce’s story as we will see later on. In the summer of 1944, Air Group 15 would begin their combat tour on board the USS Essex, fighting all across the South Pacific. For this tenure, Loyce would perform valiantly with his two other crew members—pilot and captain Robert Cosgrove and radioman Digby Denzik.

They would serve well and quickly became one of the more recognizable crews on the USS Essex, led by Lieutenant Cosgrove, who had become known for nursing crippled aircraft back home after their intense combat missions. On October 24th and 25th, the famous Battle of Leyte Gulf would take place, and Air Group 15 would play a starring role. One of their heroic moments would actually be when fighters of the USS Essex, led by famed ace David McCampbell, intercepted a massive wave of Japanese aircraft, preventing a devastating attack on the American fleet.

But the TBF Avengers would also play a role, attacking a large number of Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers with both torpedoes and bombs. In these intense two days of fighting, Commander Lambert, who oversaw the torpedo bombers of Air Group 15, described the action as follows: “Coming in through the most intense and accurate AAA yet experienced, the squadron made three hits on one battleship, two hits on another battleship, and two hits each on two different heavy cruisers.”

In this intense fighting action, two of the 16 TBF Avengers of Loyce Edwards’ group would be lost. In addition, sometime during a mission on October 24th, Loyce himself would be injured in combat. This would occur when his aircraft was hit by an anti‑aircraft round and shrapnel would enter his right foot. Like the hero he was, however, Loyce simply wrapped it up and stayed on to fight the next day.

Following the American victory at Leyte Gulf, the USS Essex would turn away from the front of the fighting and head to a U.S. island base with a large hospital ship for four days of rest and replenishment. Following this, they were to head back to the front for two more weeks of fighting before Air Group 15 was scheduled to be rotated out and sent back home.

Here we can see a letter from Loyce written to his father on October 31st, likely written from a recovery bed while he was recovering from his shrapnel wound. We can see that Loyce is discussing casual things like a victory garden with his father and that he doesn’t think that it’s a good idea because of the current heat in Oklahoma. Later on, Loyce writes that the U.S. Navy is kicking the hell out of the great Imperial Japanese Navy and that General MacArthur is making slow but sure headway in the Philippines.

He finishes this letter home by saying that he was so tired that he felt that he could sleep for 24 hours straight and that he would write home again in a few days. With his foot injury, Loyce Edwards could have stayed on board the hospital ship for the following two weeks of recovery while his group went out on their final mission. He would have then been rotated back to the United States along with the rest of the unit.

There would have been no shame in this, as he had a serious shrapnel injury and was receiving medical treatment. But again, Loyce Edwards refused to let his fellow airmen go to battle without him. He chose to go with his group back for their final mission, an honorable and respectable decision that would seal his fate.

On November 5th of 1944, four strikes would be made from the USS Essex, all while Japanese aircraft were attacking the fleet sporadically throughout the day. Captain Cosgrove, Digby, and Loyce would be assigned to attack Japanese cruisers in an early morning raid on Manila Bay.

As they prepared to take off, Loyce Edwards climbed into his turret for the final time. It would take the group about two hours to reach their target area. Once they arrived, Captain Cosgrove made an attacking run and released their payload on the cruiser as Japanese anti‑aircraft lit up the sky.

For this mission, the defending fire was noticeably thick and well‑aimed from the Japanese ships. As they dropped their ordnance on the cruiser below, two large anti‑aircraft shells made direct hits on their aircraft, exploding right inside of the gunner’s turret where Loyce Dean was sitting. In these two hits, Loyce was likely killed instantly.

Shortly after feeling the impact, radioman Digby Denzik, who was at the bottom turret, went up to his seat to check on Loyce and then saw the grim scene when he looked inside his turret. He then radioed to Captain Cosgrove in the cockpit. Captain Cosgrove obviously wanted to check on Dean himself, but his aircraft was hit badly and it required everything he had to keep his plane in the air. Checking on Loyce would have to wait until they were back on board the Essex.

For two hours, Denzik sat quietly in his seat next to Dean while Captain Cosgrove nursed their TBF Avenger back to the carrier. On approach, they radioed that they had an injured crew member on board so that they could prepare the medical crews to give him attention. Digby Denzik in the radioman’s position was likely the only one that knew how bad it truly was.

As Cosgrove landed the Avenger, medics and rescue crews rushed out to try and help their brother. Unfortunately, upon seeing the situation in the gunner’s seat, they quickly realized that Loyce Dean was dead. Tragically, the explosions from the shells inside of the gunner’s turret had completely mangled both Loyce Dean and the turret itself.

Metal from all around the turret was bent out of place and the remains of Loyce Dean’s body was right in the middle of it. To make the situation even worse, a Japanese kamikaze flight had recently been reported as en route to their position and may be there within an hour. This left the commanders of the USS Essex in a terrible position in regards to how to take care of their deceased crew member.

They had to soon clear the flight deck and prepare for the possible incoming raid, but there was no way to remove Loyce from the gunner’s position. In a tragic decision, attempting to honor their brother in the best way possible, it was decided that Loyce Edward Dean would have to be buried at sea inside of his aircraft.

Crew

There are stories of crew members refusing to, you know, crew members not wanting to leave their killed comrades in the bombers and bail out. It’s got to be a difficult thing to do. I don’t know if I would be able to do that as a member of the deck crew, but you’re reacting instantly to the situation.

And my guess is that was absolutely the correct decision—to, you know, push that airplane overboard, clear the decks so that you can either launch or recover aircraft, whichever they were having to do. So trying to remove him from the airplane was, in that moment in time, impossible. And then they move directly from there to pushing…

Conclusion

…the plane off the aircraft into the sea. It was incredibly sad for me watching it decades later. It’s the kind of a film of a real‑life event that really had a big impact on me, and I’m sure that if all these years later it had that huge impact on me, the effect that it had on the crew that had to make that decision that day probably was a lot greater.

Shortly thereafter, dog tags were removed and fingerprints were taken, and the aircraft was rolled to the edge of the flight deck. During this intense fighting in the Pacific, because losses were so high and planes were lost so often, spare parts were an extremely valuable resource. Under normal circumstances, this Avenger would have been completely salvaged for any potentially useful parts to the crews on board the Essex.

But to show honor for their fallen gunner, the aircraft was not touched and not a single part was taken from Loyce Dean’s plane. The entire crew stood to honor their fallen airman in the makeshift funeral, and his plane was then pushed overboard into the waters below. In that moment, two TBF Avengers flew overhead at low level in one final salute to Loyce Dean.

The American hero, who was just 23 years old, could have stayed on board his comfortable hospital ship to recover from his wound, but instead opted to go with his group to battle and paid the ultimate price for his loyalty and bravery. This would be the only time in history that an airman was buried intentionally in his aircraft at sea.

Thanks again to the Commemorative Air Force and Airbase Arizona for allowing me access to learn about these incredible aircraft and to get commentary from leading experts on this history. Comment what story I should cover next and please consider subscribing.