Ray Boro, USN-- Part 3: The Marines Sure Loved Their Corsairs, War Experience, Home

The Marine pilots loved their Corsairs and really flew in close to support their Marines on the ground.  Navy Corsair pilots didn't get as close in.   Ray is happy that his squadron was the last in the Navy to have Corsairs and Korea was the last hurrah for the Corsairs.

His aircraft carrier arrived in Korea in 1952.  Mr. Boro said that his pilots saw action, but he never did.  He never even saw Korea except on occasion way off in the distance.  None of his ship's planes were shot down though some returned with bullet holes.

"We had jets, F-14s.  The enemy had MIG jets."

Life on the Boxer was "compact."  The Flight Deck was often a madhouse.  Much of the time it was the old military axiom "Hurry up and wait."  He remembers that one man lost his life when he fell overboard and was lost at sea.

On June 11, 1953, his ship left Japan for home.  Four destroyers accompanied the carrier back to the United States.  Ray was unaware that his half-brother was on one of them.  He didn't find out about it until after his discharge.  He had joined the Navy because of his half-brother and several uncles being in it during World War II.

--Cooter