While June 1944, is most remembered for the events that happened on the Normandy coast in France, the month also marked the launching of a pivotal campaign in the Mariana Islands. When Marines went ashore on Saipan on June 15, 1944, it represented the first step in the conquest of the inner ring of the island strongholds defending Japan. In addition, the Marianas provided another base for the launching of bombing attacks by B-29 Superfortresses against the Home Islands. As expected, the Imperial Japanese Navy contested the invasion of the Marianas, confronting the U.S. Navy in what became known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea on June 19-20, 1944. The first day included massive air attacks against U.S. Navy carriers, during which the Japanese lost scores of aircraft to defending F6F Hellcat fighters, prompting one aviator to liken the air-to-air combat to an "old-fashioned turkey shoot." The following day, U.S. carriers were released from covering the beachhead to pursue the enemy fleet from which the planes had been launched the previous day, getting into position to launch strikes at extreme range late in the afternoon of June 20th.
Among those taking to the air was Aviation Radioman Second Class John Conrad Bramer, Jr., of Bombing Squadron (VB) 14 on board the carrier Wasp (CV 18). At the beginning of his combat cruise with the squadron, he had begun keeping a diary. He decorated the cover with a cut out of an SB2C Helldiver in a dive bombing run amid hand drawn puffs of antiaircraft fire and on the inside drew a cartoon showing a sinking Japanese ship with a shark pointing its nose above the wave tops saying "Ha, ha!" Most of his entries were short ones, listing the loss of squadron planes or noting a particular strike with a reconnaissance photograph of the target. On only one occasion did he write at length, describing an adventure that began over the Philippine Sea on June 20, 1944.
Bramer and his pilot, Lieutenant (junior grade) Albert Walraven, left Wasp's deck at 1630, their subsequent 1.5 hours in the air leading them to Japanese ships steaming on the ocean below. Arriving over the enemy, Walraven picked his target and initiated his dive bombing run.
"Then the fireworks started. More anti-aircraft fire came up at us from those ships below than I ever had the misfortune to dodge up until that time," Bramer wrote. After dropping his bomb on an oiler, Walraven exited the area. "The 'ack-ack' followed us for quite a while and when it stopped I thought my worries were over. In reality our troubles were only beginning." Fighters of the Japanese combat air patrol descended on the SB2C, prompting evasive action by Walraven as Bramer fired his .30-caliber machine guns at the enemy planes. Fortunately, F6F Hellcats that had escorted the strike group arrived on the scene, driving off the Japanese fighters.
Launched at the limits of their combat range, the crews that took off from U.S. carriers that day understood that many would not be able to make it back to their ships. The maneuvering to avoid the attacking Japanese aircraft took its toll on Welraven and Bramer's fuel supply, and "about 2105 we broke off from the formation, and started in for our forced landing. After removing my parachute I braced myself for the impact. It was pitch dark so Mr. Walraven had to land entirely by instruments and a beautiful landing it was." Nevertheless, the jolt of hitting the water sent Bramer's face crashing into some equipment around him, breaking his nose.
Inflating their life raft and climbing aboard, the two men awaited the dawn and hoped for rescue. Daylight soon brought the sight of an aircraft on the horizon, the use of a signal mirror and flare prompting its pilot to fly over the raft and drop a dye marker. After a time more aircraft appeared, the sight of one of them peeling off as if to begin a strafing run prompting the downed fliers to jump overboard. Thankfully, the aircraft were F6F Hellcats, which circled over the raft for a time until relieved by another pair of fighter planes. In short order, a mast appeared on the horizon, the two men in the raft welcoming the sight of the submarine
Seawolf (SS 197).
As with most downed airmen rescued by submarines during World War II, among them future President George H.W. Bush, the pair's stay on board was subject to the mission of the submarine. Seawolf was headed to the Palau Islands to take reconnaissance photographs, which meant that the airmen became submariners for many days, experiencing crash dives at the sight of approaching enemy planes and in Bramer's case, taking a turn operating the sound gear. On the occasion of the Fourth of July, the men experienced the legendary sub chow. "The cook made an extra special dinner consisting of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, ice cream, pie, and many other delicacies. Last but not least all hands were given a ration of brandy." Four days later, Seawolf returned to her base at Midway Atoll, where Walraven and Bramer bid farewell to the crew. Tragically, Seawolf was lost with all hands in October 1944.
"After two weeks of traveling by boat, car, jeep, ship, and airplane," Bramer wrote, "we finally reached our ship and it certainly was swell to get back." Thus concluded the longest mission of his wartime career.
Pictured above, the cover of Bramer's diary he kept during World War II, an aerial view of Japanese ships under attack during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and a view of a submarine on the scene to rescue downed airmen in the aftermath of a Pacific carrier raid.
Other significant June events in U.S. naval aviation history.
June 16, 1921- Navy Contrracts for Curtiss CR racing planes
June 16, 1945- Establishment of Naval Air Test Center (NATC) Patuxent River, Maryland