- Rank:
- Branch of Service:
-
Major Battle/Theatre:
Circumstances:
He died following take off from Bankstown Airdrome, Sydney, as the result of an aircraft accident. The cause of the accident was reported as engine failure of the SBD-3 plane which he was piloting, with a subsequent spin from 500 feet altitude
Biography:
LeRoy Clifford Deede, born 5 February 1916 in Woodworth, N.D., enlisted in the Naval Reserve 2 July 1937 in Pensacola, Florida, and was appointed a Naval Aviator 21 September 1938. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his outstanding service while commanding a PBY during a bombing attack on a Japanese naval force in Jolo Harbor, Sulu, Philippine Islands, 27 December 1941. With his plane crippled after splashing an enemy plane which tried to down him Deede crash landed at sea where he and his crew could be rescued. Lieutenant (junior grade) Deede was killed 17 June 1942 in Bankstown Airdrome, Sydney, as the result of an aircraft accident. The cause of the accident was reported as engine failure of the SBD-3 plane which he was piloting, with a subsequent spin from 500 feet altitude. He is buried in Plot 8, Grave 805 in National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Following his death a DE-263 was sponsored by his mother and named USS Deede. It was launched from the Boston Navy Yard and commissioned by Lieutenant Commander J. W. Whaley in command.