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From Approach/June 1972
Kingfisher Cover
Washington, D.C. - Your article in the March 1972 issue on the OS2U Kingfisher brought back memories of that historic first attack on Truk on 16-17 February 1944. I want to comment regarding the picture at the bottom of the second page. That was no ordinary or routine recovery! The lad in the back seat is Lieutenant George M. Blair of VF-9 who, only a few hours earlier, had been shot down right in Truk lagoon while on a strafing mission. That gutsy little Kingfisher and her courageous crew, Lieutenant Denver F. Baxter and Radioman Reuben F. Hickman, braved hostile fire and an uncertain fuel supply to pick big George out of the water and return him safely to USS Boston (I think) from whence he made his way back to Essex. I was told that Lieutenant Denver had about one pint of gas remaining when he hooked onto the crane.
K. C. Childers, Jr.
Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy
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