WEBVTT

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(dramatic music)

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^- My name is Colonel T.J. Dunn.

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^I'm the assistant wing commander

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for 2nd Marine Corp Aircraft Wing.

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I got to fly in TBM-3 Avenger.

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So the TBM Avenger was a torpedo bomber in World War II.

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I didn't ask to fly up behind the pilot.

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I could see really well.

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I wanted to fly in the radioman's position

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because my grandfather, Terrence Francis Dunn,

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had flown in World War II off the USS Essex.

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(dramatic music)

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He tuned the radios.

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He worked the radar.

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And he was also the tail gunner.

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And in World War II, he was right in the thick of it.

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- [Radio Announcer] Somewhere in the Pacific,

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a U.S. Navy carrier taskforce steamed into Japanese waters.

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(plane engine revving)

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(gunshots)

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(explosions)

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- He was shot down twice for his Purple Heart.

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If you notice, he's got three Distinguished Flying Crosses.

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You know, those are pretty high honors.

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You don't have very many pilots

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that have Distinguished Flying Crosses.

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He had three.

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One of his most notable flights

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was in aiding his pilot in locating

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and then deploying a torpedo against

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the Japanese battleship, the Musashi.

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(dramatic music)

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As a Marine aviator, I sort of was inspired

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by my grandfather to fly naval aviation.

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(dramatic music)

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Shot down twice but he made it back from the Pacific.

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He was a sailor.

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And he was an aviator.

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And he was out there fighting.

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He was a warrior.

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(dramatic music)