Lt. jg. Marion Dufilho, USN - The First Team

[Ruy Horta]

A little time ago I (re)read a couple of books on the early campaigns of the USN (Lundstrom and Hammel).

One of the pilots involved was Lt. jg. Marion Dufilho USN. He interested me in particular because of his name, which looks and sounds Portuguese.

If I remember correctly this pilot claimed sufficiently to be considered an ace, however I could not find him in Stars&Bars.

It struck me that the latter title contained very few of the people I was reading about. Is there a particular reason for this, or were many of these "First Team" pilots not counted among the aces after the war?

[Frank Olynyk]

Ruy,
Lt. Marion William Dufilho was credited with 2 Vals (although they weren't called that at the time) plus a damaged at Guadalcanal. I have nothing further on him; you might check the appendix in The First Team at Guadalcanal to see what John Lundstrom says he did afterward.

All the American aces from WW2 are listed in Stars and Bars, plus a number of non-aces who have appeared on various lists of aces. Nobody got left out. When I eventually do an update there will be a handful of new ones added; the only one I am completely happy with is Alden Rigby.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[R Leonard]

Marion Dufilho (USNA 1938) did not do anything after the Guadalcanal Campaign because he was killed in action on 24 August 1942, in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.

He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He was also Butch O'Hare's wingman on the day O'Hare earned the Medal of Honor for shooting down four or five (depending how you count) G4M bombers intent on attacking USS Lexington. Dufilho's guns were jammed, but he stayed with O'Hare through his attacks on the Bettys even though O'Hare had waved him away.

He was one of my father's classmates at the Academy.

Rich

[Ruy Horta]

My mistake and worse, I've made rash assumptions based on this clouded judgement.

I've got both Lundström's First Team books and Hammel's Carrier Clash & Strike titles. After finishing the original First Team, I decided to read both of Hammel's books first and only afterwards the second, perhaps more authorative, Lundström.

Now here's the line that I failed to read correctly and more importantly, recalled incorrectly.

Carrier Clash, Hammel
Page 244, 3rd par.

The third member of the Richardson trio, Lt Marion Dulfiho (sic), an extremely well seasoned veteran with two August 7 kills to his credit, disappeared without a trace.

I've mixed the numbers 2 and 7, making Dufilho an ace with 7 confirmed kills. I'd like to thank Rich for his more personal answer. Not often history gets so close, not even in an indirect manner. One minute you are reading about a man the next you reading a message from his son.