From the date that the squadron was commissioned at the MCAS, Cherry Point, NC, 1 July 1943, until the end of hostilities in the Pacific Ocean Theater of War in August 1945, 15 members of VMD-354 had lost their lives in non-combative military operations. Of the total number of deaths recorded, 14 resulted from two separate aircraft accidents. On 19 May 1944, Lt.Col. Ernest E. Pollock and his crew of 12 men, were killed when their B-24 Liberator, Photo Recon- naissance Aircraft crashed and burned six miles Southeast of Cherry Point, NC while approaching MCAS following a Photo Reconnaissance Training Mission. It is believed that they were on their approach for a landing. The exact cause of the crash was not determined. Lt. Robert Frew was killed when the aircraft, a B-26 Martin Marauder, in which he was a passenger, crashed while attempting a landing on the Island of Siapan in the Mariana Islands. The aircraft was piloted by Lt. R. Frahm. a friend of Lt. Robert Frew, and was returning from Manila in the Philippines with supplies when the weather closed in on Guam and they were diverted to Siapan. When they arrived at Siapan, the conditions were no better. The aircraft was nearly out of fuel and Lt. Frahm gave orders to the crew to prepare to bail out, but at the last moment he said he could see the airfield and was going to attempt a landing. The aircraft ran out of fuel on the landing approach and crashed. Lt.'s Frew and Frahm plus two crew members were killed. Some of the crew members in the rear of the aircraft survived. The fifteenth casualty was Corp. Jack Nussbaum. The circumstances associated with his death are not readily available but his death did occur prior to the squadron being sent overseas. In Memoriam