World War II Database

1. Rich MILLER says:
27 Apr 2020 09:25:07 PM

Marcus Island (CVE-77) War History says she went underway from Espiritu Santo for San Diego on June 16 1944, arriving July 1, transporting aircraft back to the US. She was not assigned to a combat group until August 4 1944 when she reported to Commander Third Fleet and then to Task Group 19.1 at Pearl Harbor.

2.  David Stubblebine says:
27 Apr 2020 11:33:48 PM

Rich Miller (above):
Your dates are correct and the caption has been updated. Thank you for pointing this out. Further, the Marcus Island war diaries say she loaded these aircraft on 15 Jun 1944 and departed from Espiritu Santo’s Palikulo Bay the following day. Except for getting the date wrong, the official Navy caption for this image still contains some interesting information. It reads:
“USS Marcus Island in a south Pacific port, 17 June 1944. The airplanes parked on her flight deck from amidships to the stern appear to be TDR-1 assault drones. She is probably delivering elements of Special Task Air Group One (STAG-1), which employed TDR-1s in Solomons area combat operations during September and October 1944. Other planes on board appear to be TBMs, which were used for drone control.”