At the completion of its third tour, VMF-213, the Hellhawks, accounted for 104 enemy aircraft shot down.  Twenty-nine pilots were deployed at the initiation of the first combat tour; eighteen joined in the course of the three combat tours.  The squadron had seven aces based on Japanese planes shot down during the three combat tours: James N. Cupp with 12 (FN#1), Sheldon Hall with 6, John Morgan with 8.5, Edward Shaw with 13.5(FN#2), Wilbur Thomas with 16.5(FN#3), Milton Vedder with 6, and Gregory Weissenberger with 5. 

Thirteen pilots were designated missing in action and only of them 3 returned.  One was accounted as a prisoner of war but never returned.  Four were killed in operations.  Four were administratively transferred during the tours.  Of the original officers and pilots of the Hellhawks, the seven pilots, the intelligence officer, and flight surgeon,  were the survivors – those that were with the squadron at the beginning of the first combat tour and continued through the completion of the third combat tour. 

In addition to those killed in action and in operations, seven of the original pilots were evacuated to hospitals and never returned to the squadron: Walter Hilton (chronic bronchitis), Robert Jones (tropical ulcer, dermatitis), William Johnson (fracture of left femur), Alonzo Treffer (nausea, abdominal pain, jaundice), William Coffeen (after missing in action for approximately 50 days), Sheldon Hall (fractures and shrapnel), and Francis Cupp (severe burns).

Of the original squadron survivors of the three combat tours, George Defabio was killed in action over Okinawa on Friday, April 13, 1945.  John Luther Morgan was killed in action over Okinawa on March 28, 1945.  Ed Shaw was killed in a flying accident near Mohave, California on July 31, 1944.  Milton Vedder died on February 11, 1944, in a New Zealand hospital from complications directly related to malaria.  

Only, Leonard H. McCleary, Stirling Harrison, Ray Boag, Wilbur Thomas, and Doc Livingood survived the war.  However, shortly after the war, Wilbur Thomas was killed in a flying accident in 1947.

The Japanese were not the only enemy in the South Pacific.  In summary are the number of cases of some of the more predominant medical conditions (FN#4) that afflicted these pilots:

·       Malaria                                                           9

·       Reactions to anti-malarials (atabrine)             2

·       Jaundice, acute, infectious                               3

·       Dengue fever                                                   5

·       Acute sinusitis                                                 7

·       Diarrhea                                                          6

Accidents also took their toll in equipment and personnel.  There were 20 accidents with injuries: 10 in action and 10 operational.  There were nine accidents with no injuries: 2 in action and 7 operational.

Additionally, Flight Surgeon William Livingood in a retained draft of his Combat Tour Report sent to the Wing Surgeon pointed out several related operational factors that adversely impacted the pilots.  The first was the splitting up of the squadron between Munda and Guadalcanal; the portion of the squadron at Munda being relieved about every ten days.  This method of operations resulted in “numerous complaints from all personnel so forced to operate.”  He believed this method of operations was responsible for “much disorganization, loss of interest, and a much earlier onset of combat fatigue.”  Secondly, the pilots at Munda were subject to additional adverse situations.  There were 34 fighter pilots assigned to Munda but only 14 or less planes were available.  All pilots were required to stand ready in the ready tent from 0500 to 1830 each day.  There were no days off, the ready tent was a long distance from the camp and mess area, and the ready tent was poorly supplied.

The foregoing tries to account for the conditions under which these marine pilots fought and endured: the hours on patrol and in combat, the air raids while at their own base, the deaths of fellow Marines, injuries on duty, and the myriad diseases, including malaria, jaundice, dengue fever, sinusitis, diarrhea, dysentery, catarrhal fever, and dermatitis.  It also tries to capture the spirit of the men who so endured.  However, the countless stories of these men, their individual performance, their interaction with the men in their squadron, and their interactions with the pilots of other squadrons are not capture here.  Concluding this endeavor is perhaps best accomplished by an anonymous prayer; the prayer was contained in a collection of poems maintained by relatives of Theron Hart Brown, III, and was identified as possibly being written by him:

A Marine’s Prayer

Dear God, in a world that’s racked with war,

Let me think of the coming years

When the cannon’s core has ceased its roar,

And the nations dry their tears.

Keep Thou my heart unblasphemed;

And let me live as a man should live

In a fight for the God of Peace.

O Father, grant that I may last

To build the world again

To know, when pestilence is past,

A brotherhood of men.

Bless Thou the aged with Thy light;

Protect our troubled youth;

  And let me fight as a man should fight

In a war for the God of Truth

Thy will be done, if Thou decree

That I should die afield

But let me go, face to the foe,

Sustain me lest I yield.

Let no man cry he saw me fly

The battle’s agony;

And let me die as a man should die

In a fight for Liberty.