REAR ADMIRAL MARTIN DONE “RED” CARMODY – 7 MARCH 2008

      “    LTJG “Red” Carmody turned his SB-2C back toward USS BUNKER HILL after completing his post-strike battle damage assessment. During the return flight “Red” and his fighter escorts, LT “Whitey” Feightner and LTJG Collins, noticed a ship apparently unloading supplies in a small lagoon. “Whitey” directed “Red” to position himself for a bombing run while he and Collins distracted the ship’s gunners with strafing runs. “Whitey” completed his run bow to stern and Collins was in the middle of his run from stern to bow as “Red” was approaching his drop altitude when, all of a sudden, the targeted ship blew to smithereens and “Red’s” SB-2C vanished in the plumb of rising debris. “Whitey” quickly joined on “Red’s” wing when the debris cleared finding him well above the altitude he was at when Collins’ bullets caused the ammunition ship to explode. “Red” told “Whitey” that the only things working on his aircraft were his engine and his radio and that he was ready to head back to “home plate”. On the way back to USS BUNKER HILL “Whitey” joined on “Red” Carmody wing to make sure everything was okay and noticed “Red” using the tiny bubble compass on his Maywest life-vest  to navigate by, an indication to “Whitey” that “Red was not going to leave the navigation up to a fighter  pilot. ”

A Golden Eagle of tremendous passion, as well as compassion!

Every moment an officer and a gentleman:

               A wonderfully devoted husband and father,

               A squadron-mate and mentor, but, ultimately

               A Naval Aviator every one of us would have flown wing onin any circumstance.

An extra hardy lad from our nation’s heartland, who played both ways on his San Jose State team for a national championship!

A V-5 product out of Corpus Christi!

A “nugget” Naval Aviator who had the good fortune to be ordered to VS-10 at NAS North Island and find himself amidst a mix of fighter and bomber pilots destined to become Naval Aviation legends in the short months to follow – the likes of “Killer” Kane, “Whitey” Feightner, Butch Voris, “Swede” Vejtasa, Birney Strong, John Leppa and Jimmy Flatley who were quickly molding Air Group 10 to go aboard USS ENTERPRISE in the aftermath of the Battle of Midway.

This early exposure to the “right crowd” was not lost on “Red” Carmody – in fact, his early exploits and a very junior Scouting, and then Bombing, squadron pilot in VS-10 and VB-10 flying from ENTERPRISE and BUNKER HILL are chronicled in almost every WW II military history text addressing naval aviation actions during the war in the Pacific.

The narrative citations accompanying his 3 DFC’s, 9 Air Medals and 3 Presidential Unit Citations speak to deeds far exceeding the awards criteria as we appreciate them today – like ENS Carmody and his Combat Air Crewman Liska smoking two Japanese fighters from their SBD on their first and third engagements in combat. On their second engagement they found the Japanese convoy the Air Group was in search of in the vicinity of Salvo Island and “Red” scored a direct hit on one of the troop ships while “Whitey” Feightner was eliminating three Japanese fighters harassing “Red” flight.

When not in the cockpit, “Red” Carmody, “Killer” Kane and “Butch” Voris were doing the “Muscle Beach” routine on the decks of ENTERPRISEand BUNKER HILL long before it became a popular venue inCalifornia.

“Red” Carmody had four combat commands in three wars, VB-8 in WW II, VF-124 in Korea, and USS KITTY HAWK and Carrier Division ONE in Vietnam.

A “CaptainAmerica” character in the cockpit, “Red” Carmody was “Shrek” in theWashington acquisition arena as he doggedly fostered the creation of an Electronic Warfare infrastructure that would expedite the delivery of electronic warfare equipments to our squadrons deploying toVietnam. Naval Aviation will forever be indebted to “Red” Carmody for his significant role in helping to create the EW community and for establishing EW as a Naval Air Warfare Area, including his impact on EW equipment acquisition and the many resultant benefits to tactical employment and survivability in a hostile arena.

A mentor to so many, a truly inspirational leader and a comrade in arms like no other, “Red” Carmody shared his experiences with the aim of inspiring those on his wing to accelerate and take the lead – if accomplished with a precise barrel roll, so much the better.

“Red” Carmody - with his boundless enthusiasm for whatever was going on, that perpetual twinkle in his eyes and an ever-so-generous demeanor WILL BE MISSED, more so by Barbara and their family, but also in a way only his Golden Eagle squadron-mates understand.

Jim Flatley, RADM US Navy [Ret]