Edward Albert Croker

First Lieutenant Edward Albert Croker entered the US Navy on Dec. 3, 1941, and earned his wings at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. As one of the top students in his class, Croker was offered a commission in the US Marine Corps Reserve, which he accepted on Nov. 13, 1942. First Lieutenant Croker served as the pilot for a TBF-1 Avenger dive-bomber with VMTB-233. On Sept. 16, 1943, Croker and his crew took off for a bombing mission against the Japanese-occupied island of Ballale in the Solomon Islands. While over the target, Croker's TBF-1 was damaged and Croker had to bail out. He was the only member of his crew to survive the plane crash. Reports vary about how Croker was killed. Most sources state he was executed by Japanese forces on Feb. 21, 1944, after being held captive at Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. He was allegedly cellmates with Medal of Honor recipient "Pappy" Boyington. Other sources claim he was killed on Feb. 21, 1944, when the Japanese prisoner ship he was on was struck by American air forces. First Lieutenant Croker was never recovered, and he is still listed as Missing in Action to this day. First Lieutenant Croker is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines.