World War II Honoree

Marion 'L' Conrad

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Terra Bella, California

Honored By

Polly Conrad, Wife

Relationship

Virginia, Nancy, Carol, Margaret, Daughters

He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on October 3, 1942, as a V-5 aviation cadet and entered active duty January 31, 1943. Upon completion of basic and advanced Navy flight training at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Corpus Christi, Texas, which included 100 hours in the carrier-based Grumman F6F Hellcat, he was commissioned an ensign in the Naval Reserve and appointed a naval aviator, October 4, 1944. That same day, he received orders assigning him to Naval Air Station Daytona Beach, Florida, for the initial flight training in the Chance Vought F4U Corsair, a carrier-based fighter-bomber he would fly for the next eight years. At Daytona Beach, he was assigned to Fighter-Bomber Squadron 152 (VBF-152). In May 1945, VBF-152 was moved to the west coast, to Naval Air Station San Diego, California, in preparation for deployment to the Pacific, but, by then, the war was coming to an end. He was honorably discharged from the Navy, November 8, 1945. Decorations: Air Medal, American Campaign Medal, Naval Reserve Medal, and WWII Victory Medal. He continued serving in the Naval Reserve after WWII.