Edgar R. Bassett
Encyclopedia
Edgar R. Bassett was a United States Navy
officer who received the Navy Cross
posthumously for his actions in combat during World War II
.
, Pennsylvania
, on 10 March 1914. He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve at New York City
as a seaman
second class on 13 February 1940. After flight training, he was commissioned as an ensign
on 20 May 1941. He joined Fighting Squadron 42 aboard the aircraft carrier
USS Yorktown (CV-5)
on 9 June 1941 as the squadron
was preparing for its first Neutrality Patrol
cruise in the Atlantic Ocean
aboard Yorktown. Bassett was considered one of the more colorful characters among the fighter
pilot
s of Fighting Squadron 42, and remained associated with Yorktown for the rest of his life.
Bassett was noted more than once for his aggressive performance of duty in the first few months of World War II
, especially for his strafing
of Japan
ese gun emplacements and barge
s during the aircraft carrier raid on Lae
and Salamaua
, New Guinea
, on 10 March 1942.
During the Battle of the Coral Sea
, which took place between 4 and 8 May 1942, Bassett shot down a Mitsubishi F1M2 "Pete"
floatplane
over Tulagi
in the Solomon Islands
during the Yorktown air group attack on Japanese shipping there on 4 May and strafed the Japanese destroyer
Yuzuki
as she fled Tulagi harbor. On the morning of 7 May, he flew one of the fighters that protected Torpedo Squadron 5 in its attack on the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō
. That same evening, he helped to disperse a group of Japanese dive bomber
s and torpedo planes in the vicinity of the Yorktown task force
. On the morning of 8 May, he flew combat air patrol
over Task Force 17 and assisted in the downing of one Japanese plane during Japanese attack on Yorktown.
Assigned to Fighting Squadron 3 aboard Yorktown along with several other Fighting Squadron 42 pilots just before the Battle of Midway
, Bassett flew one of the six Grumman F4F Wildcat
fighters covering Torpedo Squadron 3 in the attack on the aircraft carriers of the Japanese Mobile Force on the morning of 4 June 1942. When the Japanese combat air patrol swarmed over the torpedo planes and their escorting fighters, Ensign Bassett was shot down in flames at the outset and killed.
more than once for his aggressive performance of duty in the first few months of 1942, especially for his actions during the March 1942 raid on Lae and Salamaua.
USS Bassett (DE-672) was named for Ensign Bassett. She was converted during construction into the high-speed transport USS Bassett (APD-73)
and was in commission
as such from 1945 to 1946 and from 1950 to 1957.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
officer who received the Navy Cross
Navy Cross
The Navy Cross is the highest decoration that may be bestowed by the Department of the Navy and the second highest decoration given for valor. It is normally only awarded to members of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard, but can be awarded to all...
posthumously for his actions in combat during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Biography
Edgar Rees Bassett was born in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, on 10 March 1914. He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve at New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
as a seaman
Seaman
Seaman is one of the lowest ranks in a Navy. In the Commonwealth it is the lowest rank in the Navy, followed by Able Seaman and Leading Seaman, and followed by the Petty Officer ranks....
second class on 13 February 1940. After flight training, he was commissioned as an ensign
Ensign (rank)
Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....
on 20 May 1941. He joined Fighting Squadron 42 aboard the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
USS Yorktown (CV-5)
USS Yorktown (CV-5)
was an aircraft carrier commissioned in the United States Navy from 1937 until she was sunk at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. She was named after the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 and the lead ship of the Yorktown class which was designed after lessons learned from operations with the large...
on 9 June 1941 as the squadron
Squadron (aviation)
A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...
was preparing for its first Neutrality Patrol
Neutrality Patrol
At the beginning of World War II, when Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 started the hostilities in Europe, President Franklin D...
cruise in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
aboard Yorktown. Bassett was considered one of the more colorful characters among the fighter
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
s of Fighting Squadron 42, and remained associated with Yorktown for the rest of his life.
Bassett was noted more than once for his aggressive performance of duty in the first few months of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, especially for his strafing
Strafing
Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. This means, that although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is very often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire, the term "strafing" does not specifically include the...
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese gun emplacements and barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s during the aircraft carrier raid on Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
and Salamaua
Salamaua
Salamaua was a small town situated on the north-eastern coastline of Papua New Guinea part of Morobe province. The settlement was built on a minor isthmus between the coast with mountains on the inland side and a headland...
, New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, on 10 March 1942.
During the Battle of the Coral Sea
Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...
, which took place between 4 and 8 May 1942, Bassett shot down a Mitsubishi F1M2 "Pete"
Mitsubishi F1M
-See also:-Bibliography:* Francillon, R.J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. London:Putnam, 1970. ISBN 370 00033 1.* Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War, Volume Six: Floatplanes. London: Macdonald & Co., Ltd., 1962....
floatplane
Floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane, with slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage; only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, with the fuselage remaining above water...
over Tulagi
Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...
in the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
during the Yorktown air group attack on Japanese shipping there on 4 May and strafed the Japanese destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
Yuzuki
Japanese destroyer Yuzuki
was the final of twelve destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I. Advanced for their time, these ships served as first-line destroyers through the 1930s, but were considered obsolescent by the start of the Pacific War...
as she fled Tulagi harbor. On the morning of 7 May, he flew one of the fighters that protected Torpedo Squadron 5 in its attack on the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō
Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho
Shōhō , the lead ship of her class, was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II...
. That same evening, he helped to disperse a group of Japanese dive bomber
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
s and torpedo planes in the vicinity of the Yorktown task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
. On the morning of 8 May, he flew combat air patrol
Combat air patrol
Combat air patrol is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft.A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area, for the purpose of intercepting and destroying hostile...
over Task Force 17 and assisted in the downing of one Japanese plane during Japanese attack on Yorktown.
Assigned to Fighting Squadron 3 aboard Yorktown along with several other Fighting Squadron 42 pilots just before the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
, Bassett flew one of the six Grumman F4F Wildcat
F4F Wildcat
The Grumman F4F Wildcat was an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that began service with both the United States Navy and the British Royal Navy in 1940...
fighters covering Torpedo Squadron 3 in the attack on the aircraft carriers of the Japanese Mobile Force on the morning of 4 June 1942. When the Japanese combat air patrol swarmed over the torpedo planes and their escorting fighters, Ensign Bassett was shot down in flames at the outset and killed.
Awards
Ensign Bassett was awarded the Navy Cross for "extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty" during the Battle of the Coral Sea. He also was awarded the Air MedalAir Medal
The Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States. The award was created in 1942, and is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.-Criteria:...
more than once for his aggressive performance of duty in the first few months of 1942, especially for his actions during the March 1942 raid on Lae and Salamaua.
Commemoration
The U.S. Navy destroyer escortDestroyer escort
A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...
USS Bassett (DE-672) was named for Ensign Bassett. She was converted during construction into the high-speed transport USS Bassett (APD-73)
USS Bassett (APD-73)
USS Bassett , ex-DE-672, was a United States Navy high-speed transport in commission from 1945 to 1946 and from 1950 to 1957.-Construction and commissioning:...
and was in commission
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
as such from 1945 to 1946 and from 1950 to 1957.