Air Group 9, Eight Strikes in the Pacific    

   By Walter J. Deptula-Drew, ADC, CAC, USN (Ret.)   

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Marcus Island	August 30 - 31, 1943
Wake Island	October 5 - 5 1943
Rabaul	November 11, 1943
Tarawa	November 18 - 19, 1943
Kwajalein	December 4, 1943
Marshall Islands	January 29 - February 4, 1944
Truk Island	February 16 - 17, 1944
Mariana	February 22, 1944

Thanks Chief for your stories, and thank you to Bill Scott "USS ESSEX Buccaneer" Editor for bringing this to our attention. A special thanks to Chief Deptula-Drew's Daughters, Kathy Drew for her question to me about Hull numbers, and Debbie Shaw for sending me her Father's stories. Thank you ladies for helping us to remember your Father and the brave men who served with him.