Are there any Essex veterans from WWII with any recollections of Lt. John Hugh Spotts, a Texas pilot in VF-83, who joined your ship's company March 10, 1945, best I can tell, and was killed March 19. He was an instructor with my father at Pensacola until around 1944, when he was assigned to an operational squadron. Here is the account of his death, written on the back of Hugh's photograph that his brother sent me:

"While returning from a raid on Kyushu, Japan Hugh ran out of fuel trying to help a sub rescue his very dear friend and room mate. He was also his college room mate. Hugh was forced to land on the U.S.S. Wasp. Later that day a Jap dive bomber made an attack on the Wasp killing John Hugh."

Thank you for any details you might know about this man, who seemed to impress everyone who knew him.

Robert Brewer Jr
Fort Worth, Texas