Sherwin Lansing Eddy was born January 1924 in Corona, California. His mother passed away when he was seven years old, and his father remarried, so he had one step-brother. His father worked as a heavy construction carpenter and rancher. Some of his father’s projects included Bonnie Reel Dam, the Pit River Bridge, and the Golden Gate Bridge, and during the war he worked in shipyards. Eddy never had an interest in aviation, but wanted to be on submarines. His wife did not want him to spend his time on submarines. Eddy joined the service in June 1943 and waited five months before he had to report to CPT [Annotator’s Note: Civilian Pilot Training Program]. He racked up several hours of flying in the plane. On Thanksgiving Day 1943, he was inducted into pre-flight school in San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California]. During this time, he had to complete physical training and ground school. He was then sent to Long Beach [Annotator’s Note: Long Beach, California] to train in a biplane. Next, he was sent to Corpus Christi [Annotator’s Note: Corpus Christi, Texas] and trained on a Vultee Vibrator [Annotator’s Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant] and took instrument training. He then had gunnery and strafing training. In August 1944 he received his commission and was promoted to ensign in the Navy. He received advanced training in the Caribbean Sea which included divebombing. He was then sent to the Great Lakes [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Great Lakes in Lake County, Illinois] to practice landing on a sidewheel ferry boat. He was given a 30 day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], so he went home to be with his wife. He then reported to San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California] and waited for orders. In the meantime, he practiced shooting with a tow target. He was sent to Seattle [Annotator’s Note: Seattle, Washington] and then to Pasco, Washington where he was assigned to Composite Squadron 94 (VC-94). After a few close call training exercises, Eddy and his unit were sent to San Diego in November 1944 and boarded a troop transport to Oahu, Hawaii. In Mid-December he left Hawaii and headed towards to the Pacific and picked up a convoy in the Admiralty Islands. The convoy headed toward Luzon [Annotator’s Note: Luzon, Philippines].

Sherwin Lansing Eddy and his squadron [Annotator’s Note: Composite Squadron 94 (VC-94) flying from USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84)] were sent to Luzon [Annotator’s Note: Luzon, Philippines]. His unit assisted the ground support and bombed Japanese arsenal areas. On his trip to Luzon, his squadron saw eight kamikazes, but luckily antiaircraft guns were able to shoot them down. His ship also found a pilot that was shot down and survived in the Pacific Ocean for 25 days. Eddy was sent up after the kamikazes were shot down and circled the area around the ship. Eddy did a lot of bomb runs on Japanese ground transport and dropped napalm on Japanese front lines. While on these missions, he flew a Wildcat [Annotator’s Note: Grumman 4F4 Wildcat fighter aircraft]. His plane was well armored with a wind screen. After his missions in Luzon, Eddy and his squadron were sent to Ulithi [Annotator’s Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands] to rest, resupply, and refuel. He stayed there for about four weeks before heading out for Iwo Jima [Annotator’s Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. He took part in more missions of napalming Japanese front lines, strafing, and dropping aerial bombs ahead of the Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. By the end of the war, Eddy had racked up 600 hours of flying in six months because he was flying four-hour missions every day. During missions, one group stayed up in the sky and circled the area, while another group when down and bombed the island, then the groups switched roles. Eddy remarked that they used whatever firepower the Marines requested for them to use.

Sherwin Lansing Eddy and his squadron [Annotator’s Note: Composite Squadron 94 (VC-94) flying from USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84)] participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan]. His group supported the Marines on the ground. He saw lots of Marines laying on the beach. When he got back aboard ship, he had to debrief with the intelligence officer and got something to eat. Eddy saw the American flag flying on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. He had a close call on 13 April as he landed on the aircraft carrier, when his hook missed the wires, and he ran into an airplane. During the initial invasion on Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: Okinawa, Japan] there was not any resistance from the Japanese. It was later when the Japanese retaliated. Many of his fellow pilots died during the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa campaigns, and there were many replacements. Eddy remarked that the replacements were very well trained and had lots of flight hours by the time they arrived. His squad fought against many kamikazes during the battle of Okinawa [Annotar’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan]. On 20 April 1945, Eddy and his squad were released from duty and sent for R&R [Annotator's Note: rest and recuperation] in Guam [Annotator’s Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] and then headed back to San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California. He was given a 30 day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], so he took a vacation with his wife. [Annotator’s Note: The interviewee prompts his wife, who is not in the camera view, to answer a question at 0:55:34.000.] He traveled to different naval stations before being put on inactive duty in Jacksonville [Annotator’s Note: Jacksonville, Florida].

[Annotator’s Note: The interviewee’s wife interjects throughout this clip.] Sherwin Lansing Eddy readjusted to civilian life with some difficulty. He did not want to fly ever again. It took him 19 years to fly a plane again. [Annotator’s Note: There is a break in the video at 0:57:52.000.] Eddy did not start talking about his war experiences until he went to reunions. On Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: Okinawa, Japan] his plane caught on fire, but he was able to release the tank that was on fire. During another incident, he shot four rockets into a cave, blowing up the side of the mountain. He remarked that his escort carrier often picked up pilots that were floating in the Pacific. [Annotator’s Note: The interviewee looks at a sheet of paper to jog his memory of events.] Eddy recalled that while in Luzon [Annotator’s Note: Luzon, Philippines] he flew combat patrol while General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] came ashore. He was in San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California] when he learned about the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] dropped on Japan. He was thrilled he did not have to fly missions again. [Annotators Note: The interviewer wraps up interview and does ten seconds of room tone. There is a beak in the video then when the video resumes it shows the insignia for Eddy's squadron, Composite Squadron 94 (VC-94).]