William Paul Brannon

William Paul Brannon enlisted into the US Navy Reserve in February 1942. He joined the third unit of the "Flying Badgers," naval aviation cadets from UW-Madison. Brannon completed his pre-flight training at Glenview, Illinois. He received his commission and his wings at Corpus Christi, Texas, in October 1942. He was sent to Florida, where he received advanced training flying torpedo planes. From there, he was sent to San Diego for more advanced training. In March 1943, he visited his family on leave before heading back to San Diego. From San Diego, he was deployed to the Southwest Pacific. Ensign Brannon was assigned to Composite Squadron 28 (VC-28) where he flew SBD Dive Bombers in support of Carrier Air Group 28. He was based off of the USS Chenango (CVE-28) a Sangnamon-class escort carrier. VC-28 stood sentry over the recently taken island of Guadalcanal in 1943. On June 15, 1943, while off the coast of Nouema, New Caledonia, Ensign Brannon's plane disappeared while on an air patrol flight. His body was never recovered and a cenotaph in his memorial lies at Roselawn Memorial Park in Monona, Wisconsin. He is also immortalized on the Courts of the Missing in Honolulu, Hawaii.