This story originally appeared in my November 11 Running the Blockade blog in honor of Veterans Day. There was so much about this event (which I had never heard of) that I figured to write the rest of the story here.
Al Oesterle left the U.S. Navy in 1965 after a long career in it. And, he had a near run-in with death that his family didn't learn about until nearly 40 years after it happened. It was at a reunion of the crew that had served on the USS Princeton (CVL-23), a light aircraft carrier that was lost during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. His wife, Joan heard that her husband might have been the last man to leave the stricken carrier before it sank.
Mr. Oesterle grew up in Joliet, Illinois and joined the Navy in 1939 at age 20 and attended the University of Illinois Dental School. He graduated in 1942 and was appointed to the U.S. Navy Dental Corps. After further training, he was assigned to the USS Princeton in December 1943.
The Princeton was operating in the Pacific Theater.
On October 24, 1944, east of the Philippine island of Luzon, a lone Japanese dive bomber emerged from the clouds and dropped a bomb on the Princeton, penetrating the flight deck and exploding in the hangar bay, where aircraft were being armed and fueled.
--GreGen
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