About the author: Charles C. Statler (“Charlie,” ) pilot on board the USS Bunker Hill and then the USS Essex in the Pacific Theater. The page in which his dairy was published online says,
Charlie Statler survived the war, kept in contact with his Torpedo 4 buddies, and passed away last year [2016].
About the diary: As the introductory note says,
Given below are entries from Charlie C. Statler’s journal of VT-4’s tour of duty in the Pacific. Charlie records the basic events with no elaboration, providing a dramatic summary of squadron and ship activities between November 11, 1944 and March 3, 1945. The title is suggested by a note in Charlie’s journal by Chuck Warrington, referring to the many soundings of General Quarters that he records. The GQ entries illustrate the concern, unease, and excitement as bogies appeared over the fleet.
The Philippine Diary Project is grateful to David Thomas, in whose website, Air Group 4, the diary appears, with its own page, GQ Jitters – Daily Journal of a VT-4 Crewman. The diary entries related to the Philippines are what have been included here: November 11, 13, 14, 22, 25 and December 16, 1944, and January 6-11, 1945. Other entries related to other places such as Formosa, Indochina and so on, have not been included.
Interested readers may find Torpedo Squadron Four – A Cockpit View of World War II by Gerald W. Thomas to be relevant, and informative, reading.