Mission History
Built by Curtiss. Assigned to the US Navy to USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) to VB-87. No known nose art or nickname.

Mission History
Took off from USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) as part of TF-38 attack on Kure. Over the target, this Helldiver was hit by anti-aircraft fire and ditched off Hiroshima.

Fates of the Crew
Porter and Brissette were captured by the Japanese and interned at the Chugoku Kempei-Tai headquarters at Hiroshima.

On August 6, 1945 Chugoku Kempei-Tai headquarters was near the epicenter of the atomic bomb blast. Porter died during the blast. Brissette survived the atomic blast and was recovered at the end of the war, but died soon afterwards from radiation poisoning soon afterwards.

Memorials
The remains of Porter were recovered postwar and were buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery Plot 82 grave 156 on November 3, 1949.

In 1999, a Memorial For U.S. POWs killed by the atomic bomb was placed at the site of the former headquarters. The memorial was conceived and built by a Japanese resident of Hiroshima.

Brissette is listed at the POW Memorial Museum at Andersonville Georgia.

References
Thanks to Jim Sawruk, Ted Darcy, Chris Valgardson and Phil Fazzini for additional information.
Remembering Normand Brissette by David Rubin
NARA Prisoners of War Data File - Norman Roland Brissette

Contribute Information
Are you a relative or associated with any person mentioned?
Do you have photos or additional information to add?

Last Updated
October 25, 2012