More waves of suicide planes attacked the fleet thereafter, with Long splashing a Val east of Okinawa on April 16 for his 10th and final victory and 2nd Lt. Charles “Chucker” Hodson downing another. On May 11, 1st Lt. John S. Norris Jr. downed a Zeke near Anami for VMF-451’s 34th victory in 56 squadron sorties, but at 1005 that morning Bunker Hill’s luck suddenly ran out when a Zeke and a Yokosuka D4Y3 Judy slipped in from the clouds and got through. The Zeke dropped its 500-pound bomb before crashing into the parked aircraft on the deck. The bomb exploded after penetrating the flight deck, killing most members of the deck crews who were manning their 20mm guns. The Judy did a wingover off the port side of the ship and dived toward the deck where it met the island, dropping its 500-pound bomb into VF-84’s ready room and killing 50 Navy pilots before crashing and exploding on the deck.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in Aviation History magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

“I was just coming in with my flight from the morning cover flight,” Donahue recalled. “We were all tired, and since we’d seen and done nothing that morning, I just wanted to release my men from duty, telling the intelligence officer, ‘We’re not going to debrief.’ Hank Ellis was going to turn me in at the bridge, but nothing happened—Ellis canceled the briefing. So we all went down to our bunks except for one pilot who stayed to write a letter to his wife. So 10 minutes after we landed, I had taken off my uniform and was climbing into my bunk to get some sleep when they hit! I ran topside and went along the ship with the chaplain, Father Delaney, who was giving last rites. As it turned out, though, the only member of VMF-451 I lost was the pilot who stayed to write a letter to his wife. All the others survived.”

As Phil Wilmot remembered it, VMF-451’s duty officer, 1st Lt. Petersen, and another pilot, 1st Lt. Hugh J. McConville, stayed in the ready room. “‘Alvin’ McConville was a big teddy bear, a slow-talking guy from Oklahoma City,” Wilmot said. “Petersen was killed when the kamikaze hit, but McConville went out the door to the gun gallery and jumped over the side. He survived with a very burned hand.”

While the light cruiser Wilkes-Barre and three destroyers fought Bunker Hill’s fires, Mitscher transferred his flag to the carrier Enterprise. Bunker Hill was saved after a 24-hour struggle, but its temporary loss ended the war for Air Group 84, whose personnel were shipped home. The casualties totaled 396 killed or missing and 288 wounded, including one Marine pilot—Petersen—and 28 enlisted Marines.

VMF-451 received a Presidential Unit Citation for its work aboard Bunker Hill. The squadron was deactivated on September 10, 1945. Archie Donahue had flown 215 combat missions in the course of his two overseas deployments and was officially credited with 14 enemy planes. In addition to the Navy Cross, he received three Distinguished Flying Crosses and five Air Medals. Returning to command a squadron at El Toro NAS, he later transferred to Quantico, Va., retiring as a full colonel in the Marine Reserves on May 1, 1958.

Donahue worked as a licensed real estate broker for 50 years and also remained active in aviation, building the Texas City Airport and a government-funded flight school. Between 1981 and 1991, he served as flight operations officer for the Confederate Air Force (later renamed the Commemorative Air Force), a Texas-based organization devoted to restoring, maintaining and flying World War II aircraft.

In April 1990, Donahue had a unique encounter with a former enemy when he flew a Douglas SBD Dauntless with 64-victory Zero ace Saburo Sakai in the observer’s pit. On August 7, 1942, Sakai had been severely wounded over Guadalcanal after mistaking a flight of SBD-3s for F4F-4s and flying right into the sights of their waiting gunners. The Japanese ace reportedly enjoyed the opportunity to relive that near-fatal incident from his opponents’ position.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to