Donald McPherson died at 103 on 14 August. He served as a US Navy fighter pilot aboard the USS Essex in the Pacific theater during World War II and was credited as an ace for shooting down at least five enemy aircraft. Honors included the Congressional Gold Medal and three Distinguished Flying Crosses. The American Fighter Aces Association and the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum listed him as the United States' last surviving World War II ace. He enlisted at 18 in 1942, completed an 18-month training program, married Thelma in 1944, and flew F6F Hellcats with VF-83, once reporting shooting down two Japanese planes in a single mission. His daughter said he preferred to be remembered as a man of faith devoted to family and community.
McPherson fought Japanese forces during the second world war's final years, serving in the Pacific theater as a US navy fighter pilot aboard the USS Essex. He earned the Congressional Gold Medal, three distinguished flying crosses and recognition as an ace fighter for his service. Pilots had to shoot down at least five enemies in aerial combat to be recognized as aces.
McPherson was 18 when joined the US navy in 1942, after Japan's December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. He completed an 18-month training program before marrying his wife, Thelma, in 1944. He then belonged to fighter squadron VF-83, combating the Japanese in the F6F Hellcat planes that he flew. Once, he recounted in a Fagen Fighters WWII Museum video celebrating him, McPherson described how he shot down two Japanese planes in one mission. He said he noticed the planes converging, and he dispatched one into the ocean by lowering his fighter's nose down and firing. Then I did a wingover to see what happened to the second one, McPherson remarked on the video.
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