US Office of War Information poster about USS Harmon
and its namesake (US National Archives)
70 Years Ago—Aug. 31,
1943: First use of Grumman
F6F Hellcat in combat, in Navy raid on Marcus Island. Civil Air Patrol’s
Coastal Patrol program discontinued as U-boat threat has waned. Destroyer
escort USS Harmon commissioned at
Quincy, MA, the first US Navy ship named for an African-American—Leonard Ray Harmon, who died in action in the Naval Battle of
Guadalcanal while caring for the wounded.
