Hull Number: DE-423
Launch Date: 03/09/1944
Commissioned Date: 07/21/1944
Decommissioned Date: 05/14/1946
Call Sign: NJMI
Class: JOHN C. BUTLER
JOHN C. BUTLER Class
Namesake: MARION WILLIAM DULFILHO
MARION WILLIAM DULFILHO
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, June 2016
Marion William Dufilho — born on 22 May 1916 in Opelousas, La., the son of John M. and Anna H. Dufilho — attended high school in Opelousas and Washington, D.C., and entered the United States Naval Academy from the Seventh Louisiana District in 1934. While at the institution he competed in the Battalion Wrestling, attaining the rank of the Battalion Chief Petty Officer. In addition, Dufilho served on the staff of the Naval Academy’s annual, The Lucky Bag, which noted his “sunny smile,” summarized him as a “true friend,” and opined that he seasoned his “strenuous workouts on the mat with equally sonorous fade-outs on the bunk.” He graduated on 2 June 1938.
Following his graduation, he served in battleship Mississippi (BB-41) (28 June 1938–2 July 1940). Dufilho married Betty M. Sharpe of Long Beach, Calif., during a ceremony at Yuma, Ariz., on 12 July 1940. He then completed flight training at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, Fla. (27 July 1940–19 February 1941), where he was designated Naval Aviator No. 7153 on 15 February 1941. Dufilho followed that training two months later with advanced flight instruction at NAS Miami, Fla. On 2 April he received orders to report to Fighting Squadron (VF) 3 on board aircraft carrier Saratoga (CV-3).
The Japanese attacked the Hawaiian Islands and other Allied bastions across the Pacific on 7 and 8 December 1941. Saratoga had just completed an interim drydocking at Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Wash., and neared San Diego, Calif., when the enemy struck. The national emergency compelled the Navy to dispatch reinforcements on board the carrier, and she hurriedly embarked the additional planes and men and set out during the forenoon watch on 8 December for Pearl Harbor. The enemy carriers had disappeared into the vast expanse of the Pacific and could reappear to wreak havoc at any moment, so Dufilho joined his fellow pilots in their Grumman F4F Wildcats and stood daily alerts during the voyage.
Japanese ships and planes meanwhile began attacking the U.S. garrison on Wake Island, bombing the island almost daily during the ensuing two weeks. The garrison, primarily marines, repulsed an attempted Japanese landing on 11 December. The Americans organized a relief expedition for the beleaguered garrison, and on 16 December Task Force (TF) 14, Rear Adm. Frank J. Fletcher in command, including Saratoga and seaplane tender Tangier (AV-8), sailed from Pearl Harbor to relieve the garrison. Saratoga and Tangier encountered delays owing to the slower speed of oiler Neches (AO-5), and from Fletcher’s decision to refuel the screening destroyers, which prohibited him from reaching launching range in time to affect the outcome. Doubt concerning the movements and number of Japanese carriers and reports of the landings persuaded Vice Adm. William S. Pye, Commander Battle Force and temporarily in command of the Pacific Fleet, to avoid risking his carriers. Pye ordered Fletcher to retire and, disregarding the recommendations of his staff, Fletcher came about for Hawaiian waters while 425 miles from Wake. The Japanese consequently overran the island on 23 December 1941.
Japanese submarine I-6 fired a deep-running torpedo into the port side amidships of Saratoga about 500 miles southwest of Oahu on 11 January 1942. Six men died, water poured into three firerooms, and the ship listed to port. Saratoga made for Oahu, where her 8-inch guns were removed, and then for repairs and modernization that included improved watertight integrity and antiaircraft armament at Puget Sound Navy Yard. Saratoga’s departure temporarily reduced U.S. fleet carrier strength in the Pacific to three ships, and led to the distribution of her air group among the other carriers. Fighting Three thus relieved VF-2 on board Lexington (CV-2) on the last day of the month.
The Japanese continued their drive southward and landed at Rabaul, New Britain, and Kieta on Bougainville in the Solomons on 23 January 1942. The Allies counterattacked the invaders and dispatched TF 11, Vice Adm. Wilson Brown Jr., in command and formed around Lexington. The carrier crossed the equator on 5 February, and Dufilho took part in the traditional mariner’s ceremony, when the Shellbacks (those men who had already met King Neptune’s court) good naturedly heaped indignities upon the Pollywogs. Dufilho hoisted Ens. Leon W. Haynes onto his shoulders so Haynes could use binoculars to search the horizon “for icebergs known to be in those waters.”
Japanese Lt. (j.g.) Sakai Noboru piloted a Kawanishi H6K4 Type 97 flying boat of the Yokohama Kōkūtai (Air Group) and spotted the ships on 20 February. Brown cancelled the planned strike and two waves of 17 Japanese Mitsubishi G4M1 Type 1 land attack planes of the 4th Kōkūtai attacked the Americans off Bougainville. The F4F-3 Wildcats from VF-3 and Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlesses from Scouting Squadron (VS) 2 broke-up the attackers. The carrier avoided damage from bombs and from two bombers that attempted taiatari (body-crashing) suicide dives. Fifteen Japanese bombers, three flying boats — including Sakai’s — and an Aichi E13A1 Type 0 floatplane failed to return, mostly splashed. Wildcat pilot Lt. Edward H. O’Hare shot down four of the attackers and damaged two more, an exploit for which O’Hare received the Medal of Honor. Dufilho flew as O’Hare’s wingman, but his guns malfunctioned and he could not engage the Japanese directly. Lt. Cmdr. John S. Thach splashed a bomber and assisted in downing a second bomber and a H6K4 Type 97 flying boat. Two Wildcats fell to the enemy with the loss of Ens. John W. Wilson, and seven fighters received damage, some of these planes from Lexington’s guns.
The Battle of the Coral Sea followed, the first naval engagement fought without the opposing ships making contact. The Japanese launched Operation MO—the seizure of Port Moresby, New Guinea, and points in the Solomon Islands, Nauru, and the Ocean Islands, preparatory to the neutralization of Australia as an Allied bastion. Fletcher led TF 17 against the invading Japanese at Gavutu and Tulagi in the Solomons on 4 May 1942. Japanese transports sailed from Rabaul for Port Moresby. On 7 May TF 17, which had been joined by TF 11, Rear Adm. Aubrey W. Fitch in command and including Lexington, turned north to engage the Japanese Carrier Strike Force, Vice Adm. Takagi Takeo in command, including carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku. SBD-2s from Bombing Squadron (VB) 2, SBD-3s of VS-2, and Douglas TBD-1 Devastators from Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2, embarked on board Lexington, and Dauntlesses of VB-5 and VS-5 and Devastators of VT-5, flying from Yorktown (CV-5), sank light carrier Shōhō of the Close Support Force, Rear Adm. Goto Aritomo commanding, in the Coral Sea. Japanese planes sank destroyer Sims (DD-409) and damaged oiler Neosho (AO-23), which was afterward scuttled.
The battle concluded the following day. Dauntlesses from Lexington and Yorktown damaged Shōkaku and forced her retirement. Pilot Lt. John J. Powers of VB-5 pressed an attack in an SBD-3 on Shōkaku but failed to recover from his dive and received the Medal of Honor posthumously. Japanese carrier bombers and attack planes struck TF 17. Dufilho flew as part of Lexington’s combat air patrol (CAP) during the fierce affray, and Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox awarded the pilot a Letter of Commendation for his “gallant and fearless conduct,” commending Dufilho for his “courage, skill and determination” in fighting the Japanese.
The few available U.S. fighters, however, compelled the Americans to continue to use Dauntlesses to battle the attackers. Lt. William E. Hall, USNR, of VS-2 in an SBD-2 defended Lexington. Although wounded, Hall returned in his damaged Dauntless after participating in the destruction of at least three carrier attack planes and later received the Medal of Honor. The Japanese bombed and torpedoed Lexington and bombed Yorktown. Gasoline vapors flowing through Lexington ignited and triggered massive explosions that led to her abandonment, and destroyer Phelps (DD-360) scuttled the carrier. The Americans sustained heavy casualties including the loss of at least 69 planes to a Japanese loss of approximately 92 aircraft. The damage to Shōkaku and the aerial losses temporarily denied the Japanese the availability of Shōkaku and Zuikaku. The U.S. achieved a strategic victory by halting the push southward and blunting the seaborne thrust toward Port Moresby. The Japanese deferred and then abandoned their occupation of Port Moresby by sea and shifted their advance overland across the Owen Stanley Mountains.
Lt. Dufilho served briefly with VF-42 (8–26 June 1942), and was then transferred to VF-5, reporting on 1 July. Fighting Five had previously flown Grumman F3F-2s from Yorktown, but when she deployed to the Atlantic Fleet in the spring of 1941, the squadron went ashore at NAS Norfolk, Va., where it replaced its aging biplanes with F4F-3As. The squadron variously embarked on board Ranger (CV-4) and Wasp (CV-7) during brief voyages in the Atlantic, received F4F-4s, and then deployed to Pearl Harbor to rejoin Yorktown, just missing the carrier when she sailed to participate in the Battle of Midway. The squadron thus embarked on board Saratoga on 7 June, and on 18 June she steamed toward Midway but the Japanese came about following the battle and the carrier returned uneventfully to Pearl Harbor. On the morning of 7 July, Dufilho thus sailed with VF-5 on board Saratoga and Fletcher’s TF 11 for Operation Watchtower—amphibious landings on Japanese-held Guadalcanal, Florida, Gavutu, Tanambogo, and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. The venerable carrier turned her prow southward, crossed the equator on 11 July, and subsequently rendezvoused with other ships. The combined force then formed TF 61 — led by Fletcher — including Task Group (TG) 61.1, Rear Adm. Leigh Noyes in command, based on Enterprise (CV-6), Saratoga, and Wasp. The carriers launched planes that covered the marines when they landed on 7 August. Allied planes of TF 63, Rear Adm. John S. McCain in command, flying from New Caledonia and the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) also supported the landings. The marines wrestled control of the neighboring islands from the Japanese, and simultaneously moved inland on Guadalcanal.
Japanese planes struck back vigorously and during one of these raids Lt. Inoue Fumito led nine Aichi D3A1 Type 99 kanjō bakugekiki or kanbakus — carrier bombers — of the 2nd Kōkūtai against the transports and their escorts off Guadalcanal. Dufilho flew as a section leader with Scarlet 5, six squadron F4F-4 Wildcats led by Lt. Richard Gray flying screen combat air patrol (SCAP). Scarlet 5 raced to intercept the attackers, and Inoue realized that his slower planes would not reach the transports in time before the Wildcats tore into them, and ordered his flight of six kanbakus to wingover and attack the nearest U.S. ship, destroyer Dewey (DD-349), which he mistakenly identified as a light cruiser. The ships opened fire with their antiaircraft guns and the Wildcats twisted and turned through their own bursting flak to tangle with their opponents.
Dufilho and squadron mates Gray, Lt. (j.g.) Mark K. Bright, USNR, Lt. Hayden M. Jensen, and Lt. (j.g.) Carlton B. Starkes, USNR, sliced into the enemy bombers, and Machinist Donald E. Runyon led Scarlet 6, four VF-6 Wildcats from Enterprise, into the mêlée. One of the bombers sheered-off and Dufilho determinedly pursued it, but his engine sprayed oil onto his windshield, compelling him to lean out the left side of the cockpit to sight in his guns. The Japanese rear gunner suddenly opened fire and his 7.7 millimeter rounds shattered the Wildcat’s plexiglass windshield, shards wounding Dufilho in his neck and right shoulder. He broke away but Scarlet 6’s Runyon, Ens. Joseph D. Shoemaker, and AP1 Howard S. Packard pounced on the bomber, Runyon received credit for shooting it down into a ravine about four miles south of Lunga Point. Dufilho was credited for splashing two of the Japanese planes and damaging a third in total, and he later received the Navy Cross (posthumously) for his “cool courage and superb airmanship” in contributing “materially” to defeating the enemy counterattack. The Japanese damaged destroyer Mugford (DD-389) during the brief but deadly battle, but all nine of their planes fell to American guns or fuel exhaustion.
During the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942, Fletcher’s TF 61, including Enterprise, Saratoga, and Wasp, supported by USMC and USAAF planes flying from Henderson Field, turned-back a Japanese attempt to recapture Guadalcanal and Tulagi. The Japanese deployed multiple forces including one of carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku to cover a group of four transports, and a diversionary force formed around light carrier Ryūjō. During the forenoon watch Saratoga launched a number of planes to clear her flight deck for aircraft returning from Henderson Field. Dufilho was catapulted aloft as part of Gray’s Scarlet 5 and flew CAP over the ships. At 1245 Lt. Cmdr. Calvin E. Wakeman, Saratoga’s fighter direction officer, vectored Scarlet 5 toward a “snooper” (an apparent Japanese plane), south on 185° at an altitude of 7,000 feet. Five minutes later, he told the Wildcats to orbit, because the enemy plane appeared to be approaching the ships from ahead of their intended course. The fighter pilots watched carefully for the intruder and at 1253 Gray sighted what he initially believed to be a four-engine aircraft and identified it as a USAAF Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, but the plane had dropped so low that it flew barely a couple of hundred feet above the waves, about 20 miles from the ships. Gray closed the range and spotted a two-engine Japanese Mitsubishi G4M1 Type 1 land attack plane of the Misawa Kōkūtai. Some of the American pilots incorrectly speculated that the Japanese plane carried a torpedo, but it was actually searching for the Allied ships during a long range patrol from Rabaul. The four Wildcats nosed over and pounced on the bomber, Gray and Bright making their runs from astern, and Dufilho and Haynes approaching from high-astern. The four pilots splashed the enemy plane about seven miles from the ships and as lookouts watched the battle. Gray reported that all four men made the kill, but later received sole credit for shooting down the aircraft.
The Japanese subsequently discovered and attacked TF 61 during the afternoon and first dog watches. Lt. Cmdr. Seki Mamoru led their first strike group, 27 kanbakus and Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 carrier attack planes (kanjō kōgekiki or kankōs—torpedo bombers), escorted by ten Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 carrier fighters. A series of brief but fierce battles occurred as the Wildcats flying CAP attempted to intercept the attackers. Fighting Five’s Scarlet 5, together with Scarlet 7, three Wildcats led by Lt. David C. Richardson, sighted enemy dive bombers off to their side and spread out into line-astern as they prepared to intercept the Japanese. Their tactically sound attack formation also rendered them temporarily vulnerable, however, when, at 1638, Lt. Hidaka Saneyasu led a chūtai (an air group division) of six Type 0s flying cover from Zuikaku and they suddenly surprised the Americans by making steep high-side attacks from out of the sun. The opponents maneuvered in lethal duels, some planes peeling off and breaking their formation as they attempted to gain tactical advantages. During the mêlée the enemy shot Dufilho down, though none of his squadron mates marked his fall. He posthumously received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his “courage, initiative and aggressive devotion to duty” while “opposed by an overwhelming number of Zero fighters.”
Enterprise fought-off Japanese torpedo bombers but enemy dive bombers inflicted three direct bomb hits and four near misses that killed 74 men and wounded 95. Her crewmen controlled the fires and Enterprise came about for Pearl Harbor. The Americans also struck back during the battle and SBD-3 Dauntlesses of VB-3 and VS-3, and Grumman TBF-1 Avengers of VT-8 from Saratoga, sank Ryūjō and damaged seaplane carrier Chitose. A Dauntless of VMSB-232 damaged light cruiser Jintsū north of Malaita Island, and planes from ashore sank armed merchant cruiser Kinryu Maru and destroyer Mitsuki, and damaged destroyer Uzuki. The Japanese lost less than 90 aircraft to U.S. casualties of 20 planes.
In compliance with Section 5 of Public Law 490, Dufilho was declared dead on 25 August 1943. The intrepid pilot was survived by his wife. He received the Purple Heart posthumously, as well as the American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp, and the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal.
Disposition:
Stricken 1 December 1972. Sold 1 August 1973 for scrapping by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service. On 2 October 1973 civilian tug Pacific Ranger took ex-Dufilho and ex-Dennis (DE-405) in tow from San Diego and brought them to National Metal & Steel Corp., at Terminal Island, Calif., where they were subsequently scrapped.