Samuel Underhill

Samuel Jackson Underhill (25 August 1917 – 8 May 1942) was a naval aviator of the United States Navy who was killed in action during the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Born in Jericho, New York, he received a Bachelor of Science from Yale University and attended Harvard Law School before enlisting in the United States Navy Reserve as a Seaman Second Class on 8 November 1940. After serving briefly at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York, Underhill was appointed an aviation cadet and was transferred on 6 February 1941 to the Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida, for flight training. He subsequently underwent further training at Miami, Florida; was designated a naval aviator on 15 July; and was commissioned an ensign in the Naval Reserve on 6 August. Following advanced flight training at Norfolk, Virginia, he reported to Scouting Squadron 5 (VS-5).

In May 1942, when Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher's Task Force 17 steamed in the Coral Sea seeking to foil Japan's attempt to extend her influence southward, Underhill was with VS-5 on board carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5). When VS-5 raided Tulagi on the morning of 4 May he flew his Dauntless dive-bomber against a heavy anti-aircraft barrage and contributed to the sinking or damaging of eight enemy vessels.

On the morning of 7 May, a coordinated attack group of 17 SBDs from VS-5 took off from Yorktown and, in clear skies with unlimited visibility, launched a dive bombing attack on the light carrier Shōhō. The American planes scored nine direct hits and two near misses that sent the hapless enemy flattop to the bottom.

The next day, the two naval forces at last found one another and the stage was set for the first great naval action between aircraft carriers, the Battle of the Coral Sea. On the morning of 8 May, Yorktown launched the SBDs of VS-5, dividing the group to accomplish separate missions. One division flew in the strike that ultimately attacked the Japanese carrier Shōkaku. The other, which included Underhill, remained behind to conduct anti-torpedo plane patrol around Yorktown's formation. The pilots involved were not pleased with the latter assignment, as they would rather have accompanied their squadronmates on the strike.

Later that morning, at 1110, the eight SBDs of VS-5's anti-torpedo plane patrol found themselves jumped by a group of six Japanese fighters from Zuikaku. Pressed into service due to the lack of fighters, the slower Dauntless dive-bombers quickly found themselves at a disadvantage against the more nimble Japanese attackers. In the ensuing dogfight, the Zeros shot down four SBDs with no loss to themselves (although the American pilots claimed four destroyed) before being driven off by US fighters. Ensign Underhill was among those lost in the dogfight.

He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his extraordinary heroism, and became the namesake for the destroyer escort USS Underhill (DE-682).