VOGT-JOHN

KILLED  IN  AIR  COMBAT  WITH  JAPANESE

PEARL  HARBOR - 12/7/1941

The carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) departed Pearl Harbor on November 28, 1941, to deliver Marine Fighter Squadron 211 (VMF-211) to Wake Island.  On the return voyage to Pearl Harbor the ship was delayed because of weather and on the morning of December 7, 1941, as was the usual custom, nine pairs of planes departed early in the morning to fly to Ford Island to await the ship’s arrival later that day.  The flight of SBD Dauntless dive-bombers from Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6), included SBD-2, BUNO number 2160 6-S-3, piloted by Ensign John Henry Leon Vogt Jr. who was accompanied in the rear radioman/gunner’s seat by RM3 Sidney Pierce.  Their aircraft never made it.  As usual, the planes of VS-6 performed routine search patrols directly in front of the ship’s advance in an arc out to about 150 miles.

On the search patrol, ENS Vogt was the wingman for LCDR Halstead L. Hopping, Commanding Officer of VS-6.  While on their patrol they were primarily looking for submarines but when Hopping spotted a ship he left Vogt’s company to investigate leaving Vogt to continue the patrol alone.  As Vogt approached Oahu by himself shortly after 8:00am he undoubtedly observed smoke which was often seen from burning sugar cane field.  However, as he neared land he encountered Japanese aircraft over Ewa and quickly found himself in combat with a Aichi Val carrier dive bomber with two crew members, PO2 Koreyoshi Sotoyama and Flyer First Class Hajime Murao.  Witnesses later stated that the two planes were observed in tight combat at a very low altitude.  Vogt’s Dauntless was observed close behind the Japanese bomber when it suddenly pulled sharply up and stalled.  Vogt was so close that he was unable to avoid crashing into the plane in front of him.  Both planes reportedly crashed together into a field near Ewa where they burned, killing all four of the airmen.  This thus became one of the first Japanese planes to be destroyed by naval forces during World War II.  The bodies of ENS Vogt and RM3 Pierce were later recovered and buried in nearby Haleiwa Naval Cemetery.  The bodies of the two Japanese airmen were buried in unmarked graves near the crash site and have never been found.

ENS John Henry Leon Vogt Jr. was born on September 18, 1915, in Julian, California.  He attended schools in San Diego County, graduating from San Diego High School in 1931 at the age of 16.  He then attended San Diego State College until he joined the Navy in 1939 and was appointed as a naval cadet to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, for pilot training.  After graduating and receiving his Naval Aviator Wings he was assigned to Scouting Squadron Six aboard USS Enterprise.  Following World War II, the body of ENS Vogt was reburied at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)