Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description		Contributed By And/Or Copyright
	45k	Robert Oliver Mitchell, the son of Nicholas Demetri and Margaret Ruth (Green) Mitchell was born on 14 March 1917 at Los Angeles, Calif. While growing up he was called "Bob". After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1935, he attended and was graduated from Whittier College in 1939. Following graduation he remained at Whittier College as the school's baseball coach. Enlisting in the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve on 05 June 1941, he was appointed Aviation Cadet in the U. S. Naval Reserve on 03 September 1941. After completing flight training he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant, USMCR, on 14 March 1942, serving under the name Oliver Mitchell. Attached to a Marine Scout Bomber Squadron, VMSB-232, he was assigned to combat duty in the Solomons the following July. On 28 August, a pair of scouting bombers spotted four destroyers near Santa Isabel Island, bound for Guadalcanal. Their report reached Henderson Field at 1730, and soon eleven Dauntlesses were en route to intercept. Thirty minutes later, this second flight found the destroyers at a point about fifteen miles north of Ramos Island. Under a rain of 500-lb bombs, one destroyer, Asagiri, exploded and sank almost at once. Another warship, Shirakumo, was badly damaged and left dead in the water. Second Lieutenant Oliver Mitchell was not about to let the last destroyer, Amagiri, escape unscathed. He pulled his aircraft around and bore down on the racing vessel, intending to pepper the deck with his forward-facing guns and give his radioman, PFC Frank Schackman, a chance to rake the destroyer with the free gun in the rear. Their single Dauntless was no match for Amagiri’s hail of antiaircraft fire, and after absorbing several hits, Mitchell lost control of the plane and it plunged into the sea. No parachutes were observed. 2nd Lt. Mitchell was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for "Conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a pilot while pressing home his attack in the face of tremedous anti-aircraft fire. His aggressive fighting spirit and heroic devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service." USS Oliver Mitchell (DE 417) (1944-1946) was the first ship to be named in his honor. (Biographical photo from the Missing Marines website)		Mike Smolinski Clifton, N.J. Navsource DE / FF / LCS Archive Manager
	71k	08 February 1944: Houston, Tex. - USS Oliver Mitchell being side launched at the Brown Shipbuilding Co.		Nick Tiberio Shelton, Conn.
	57k	undated wartime image		Dave Caputo
	141k	April 1944: Oliver Mitchell at sea.		Nick Tiberio Shelton, Conn.
	223k	20 August 1944: the Atlantic Ocean - USS Oliver Mitchell underway east of Nantucket Sound, taken from a blimp of ZP-11. (U.S. Navy photo #80-G-245489 from the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.)		Mike Smolinski Clifton, N.J. Navsource DE / FF / LCS Archive Manager
	176k	19 December 1944: the South Pacific - USS Oliver Mitchell at sea approaching USS Anzio (CVE 57) for a transfer. Oliver Mitchell is wearing camouflage 32/22D with some worn and some repainted patches. (U.S. Navy photo #80-G-298067 from the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.)
	177k	19 December 1944: the South Pacific - Oliver Mitchell again in a close-up of the port bow about to make the transfer to Anzio. Notice the worn and patched paint as well as the painting of the 5-inch gun barrel. (U.S. Navy photo #80-G-298068 from the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.)

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Additional Resources

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Tin Can Sailors
The U.S. Navy Memorial
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