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NAVY Pilot -Victory Revolver grouping


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On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack crippled most of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's battleships and started a formal state of war between the two nations.

 

Here's a grouping that I'd like to share. Although not present at Pearl Harbor, Birney Strong was involved in many of the great naval conflicts in the war in the Pacific, including Tulagi Harbor, the Marshall & Gilbert Islands and the Battle of the Coral Sea

 

He distinguished himself by earning three Navy Crosses, a Distinguished Flying Cross, four Air Medals and two Presidential Unit Citations.

 

The Smith & Wesson Victory revolver and holster shown here came directly from his estate as did his gold Navy pilot wings. The ribbons shown in the photo are representative of his awards. In addition to the items here, I also have copies of citations, awards, photos, and flight logs.

 

As a pilot with VS-5, attached to the USS Yorktown, he earned his first Navy Cross for action against Japanese forces. He participated in dive bombing attacks on May 4, 1942 of Tulagi Harbor damaging or sinking at least 8 enemy vessels. On May 7, 1942, he took part in a dive bombing attack on an enemy carrier in the Coral Sea which resulted in the sinking of that vessel. On May 8, 1942 while on a anti-torpedo plane patrol, he engaged enemy bombing and torpedo planes heavily supported by fighters which attacked our forces. (Battle of the Coral Sea).

 

After the sinking of the Yorktown, his Scouting Squadron was assigned to the USS Enterprise with VS-10. He earned his 2nd Navy Cross as section leader of a scouting flight during the engagement with Japanese naval forces near Santa Cruz Islands on October 26, 1942.

 

His 3rd Navy Cross came while attached to VBF-85 aboard the USS Shangri-La where he led a task group strike and attack on the Japanese cruiser TONE at Kure Harbor, July 24, 1945.

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  • 1 year later...

Linda,

 

I didn't see this one until now. This is an awesome group!!!

 

I love this group thanks for posting.

 

Amazing three Navy Crosses

 

Chris

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks, Kevin

 

Luckily, much of what I posted came with the gun... paperwork, flight log sheets, patch, copies of his citations.

 

Searching online I found the photo of the flight group, pics of him from the Naval Academy year book , the Lucky Bag and the photo of his damaged plane.

 

For me, the research is half the fun. Being a recipient of the Navy Cross three times and having an unusual name also helped with research.

 

Linda

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