Lieutenant Commander Joseph John Scherting

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Joseph John Scherting was born on August 8th 1922 in St. Louis Missouri. He joined the Navy in 1944 and received his commission of Ensign (equivalent to 2nd Lieutenant). He was a pilot and served with Task Force 58, later changed to Task Force 38. He was a carrier bomber, and participated in multiple missions during the Pacific Campaign.

 

During a specific mission he and another pilot, Lt. Thomas P. Gavin as well as 200 other planes were assigned to bomb the Japanese ship Nagato, which was docked at Yokosuka base. It was docked in a way that made it impossible to use torpedoes. The pilots had to dive in what they described as the heaviest ant aircraft fire of the entire Pacific War. Some planes had as many as 100 bullet holes. Ensign Scherting described it as "the most fortified position he had ever seen". He said that he and Lt. Gavin had "followed another group at 15,000 feet and peeled off" "Going down we were in a steep dive-almost on our back. The sky was covered, it was so black with Ack Ack. There were lots of little islands below us and they were covered with anti-aircraft guns that were firing continuously, I was following Gavin and saw his bomb hit. it landed near the stern of the ship and there was a big red flash". "I was fortunate and got a hit also. As we pulled out of our dive we still were being fired at with ack-ack It was the most heavily fortified spot I had ever seen" Ensign Schertings bomb would be one of four that would hit the Nagato that day. The ship however was not sunk and turned out to be the last surviving Japanese battleship of the war.

 

Joseph Scherting would continue to serve in the Navy reserves into the 70's when he would retire a Lieutenant Commander. He passed away on July 30th, 2000.

 

This is his gravestone, he was buried in his hometown of St Louis Missouri.

 

Here are some photos from Task Force 58/38

 

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Now for the actual grouping.

 

This one shows the entire grouping together

 

These are his Flight caps/helmet he most likely wore one of these during the bombing of the Nagato

 

3 gloves of his

 

His name stenciled on this hat

 

another stencil on a hat

 

a group photo of some of the many hats in this grouping

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multiple of his belts

 

some of his ties

 

WW2 garrison cap with what I believe to be a post war added lieutenant commander insignia

 

This is a freebie found in the garrison cap, looks like a replacement chinstrap for the navy dress cap

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Another garrison cap this time with captains insignia

 

some more garrison caps with captains insignia

 

stenciled name in garrison cap

 

Some of the other garrison caps In the grouping

 

Name in one of the hats

 

Leggings with stenciled name, dated 1942

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Last Pictures for now:

 

Shirts one is still in the packaging.

 

and finally the entire grouping again.

 

Thanks for reading! Sorry for the side ways pictures I need to improve my photography. Feel free to ask questions!

 

Thanks,

Hunt

[US82Bravo]

Your aviator was a SB2C Helldiver pilot attached to VB-85 flying from the USS Shangri-La. He reported to the squadron 6 February 1945.

 

 

 

 

document from fold3

 

The mission attacking on the Nagato was 18 July 1945.

 

 

Larry

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Thanks for the extra research Larry! I really appreciate it. I'll definitely look up the plane he flew.

 

Hunt

 

 

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[Dogsbody]

Beautiful grouping! I'm from Europe but I've always had an interest in the Pacific side of WW2. Thanks for sharing.

 

Rene

[pararaftanr2]

Hunt,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the two "flight caps/helmets" are not. They are civilian, and post-WW2 vintage, cold weather liners for use in a hardhat, or welder's helmet. It's common to see these bundled with military groupings at estate sales, or on ebay, as "militaria", when the seller assumes they are a flight helmet because of the way they fit the head. I quick Google image search should confirm this for you.

Regards, Paul

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Beautiful grouping! I'm from Europe but I've always had an interest in the Pacific side of WW2. Thanks for sharing.

 

Rene

Thanks for the feedback!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[huntssurplus]

Hunt,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the two "flight caps/helmets" are not. They are civilian, and post-WW2 vintage, cold weather liners for use in a hardhat, or welder's helmet. It's common to see these bundled with military groupings at estate sales, or on ebay, as "militaria", when the seller assumes they are a flight helmet because of the way they fit the head. I quick Google image search should confirm this for you.

Regards, Paul

Don't worry about it, I'm glad you brought it to my attention. I thought it was weird with the colors they were, and I thought they were only made of leather.

 

Here is a very similar one I found online via google images.

 

Hunt

 

 

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Can anyone help me find a picture of LCDR Scherting?

 

Thanks

Hunt

 

 

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