Thread by @Egil_Skallagrim

Today would have been my father's (at FL) 102nd birthday. I've decided to try doing a thread on Tex's Saga, the story of the greatest fighter pilot you've never heard of. John Timothee Trezvant-O'Neill was born for military service as was his brother. Tex's grandfather was ...

"The Colonel" John Timothee Trezevant, a member of The Society of the Cincinnati (primogeniture military service going back to Rev. War), who penned this history of the Trezevants in the United States:
forgottenbooks.com/en/books/TheTr…
I think dad was a member of the SOTC, but an ...

exception would have to have been made as The Colonel had no sons. Tex graduated from the Naval Academy in 1939 (5 years there due to a football injury) and served aboard the Dewey where he earned the dubious distinction of wrecking about 40 feet of dock parking her. The CO ...

of the Dewey was a balls to the wall type so Tex only knew one way to park it and, well, he missed. Tex is then accepted to flight school and graduates in late 1941 with about 26 others. It is said he was the only member of that class to survive WWII. Tex's 1st duty station...

was the recently discovered USS Helena as her scout pilot. Tex joins the Helena in early 1942 as Senior Flight Officer. He detaches and becomes "Staff Aviator Task Force 18" in March 42 and CO of VCS-9 (Cruiser Scouting Sqd.) in Oct. 43.
3rd from right seated, far right in khaki

Tex logged about 370 hours of flight time during the Solomon Island Campaign. Somewhere during this time he became lifelong friends with Forrest Sherman, a friendship that may have cooled over "Operation Pinwheel" (more later). There are many stories from this time, such as:

One thing i have been able to piece together from that time is that Tex was in the air (Helena launch) for the entire Battle of Cape Esperance. One can only imagine the spectacle. I only have vague memories of his descriptions. After the Helena was sunk Tex flew off ...

the Nashville, Honolulu, and Saint Louis, all of which were "shot out from under me". Tex contracts malaria and i think he recovers on Tulagi before returning to the States with the battle damaged St. Louis. Tex was going to be a fighter pilot. Trained in the latest ....

nighttime and Radar techniques Tex returns to the front as the XO of VBF-85 flying off the USS Shangri-La, aka "The Shang". Tex participates in the Okinawa and Mainland Island assaults losing two roommates during that time. (plus a Helena action i forgot)

At that time Tokyo Rose called Tex "The Gray Ghost" (#gray_ghost is where i park dad's stuff). Here is The Shang's score and a few VBF-85 pictures. Plus, what may become an ax for me, the Last Bombing Mission of WWII, regardless of what the Air Force says.

Here Tex is pictured with Admiral Fitch, and the second picture is with, i believe, the CO of VFMN 541, Lt Col Peter D. Lambrecht. A page with Tex's thoughts at the "bitter end" of WWII, and Tex gets an Air Medal. In "the last days of the war" Tex was told by Adm Mitscher ...

"get target X or don't bother coming back." (note, my memory says Metzger, but Mitscher is only likely candidate) When asked much later what the target he stuck was Tex replied "I don't know, most likely Heavy Water (production)" which leads to the speculation that Tex, and ...

his fellow pilots struck a heavy water production facility to deny it to the approaching Soviets. The likely candidate being the Korean Hydro Electric Company at Konan, now Hungnam. After WWII ended Tex was back stateside within a few days. Tex was aide to Adm. Sherman ...

when Sherman was DNCO and when Sherman was given the 6th Fleet (Med) Tex became Flag Lieutenant 6th Fleet. A Life magazine picture (unknown if published) of Tex at that time, and some WWII anecdotes:
(going to take a break before starting Korea)

correction to the story; Helena was not lead ship, it was me projecting dad's thought that Helena should have been lead due to her Radar.
i regret the error (it's been hell in the wheat from chaff world)

some Big Deuce things i forgot. Tex's encounter with an honorable Samurai (he both hated and respected his enemy, especially Saburo Sakai, and gave me his biography to read) and, because he blew stuff up on the ground, a rare air to air kill:

I am going to take a moment and introduce my mother Drury (Dodge) Anderson O'Neill. Daughter of a USN WWI "Four Stacker" Destroyer Deck Officer who became progressively debilitated Parkinsons at 26 leading to poverty during the depression. Mom's Berkeley degree was financed ...

by "Red" Grove, who invented the Grove regulator valve used in many warships and her father's Navy buddy. Mom represents insurance companies in court in Washington DC after graduation and around 1943 or 1944 she is introduced to "Bill Donovan's group". I know less about what ...

my mother did than i do about my father. Her specialization was communism of the Chinese type. She "met" Bill Donovan, "knew" Clair Chennault, and was "friends" with CC's 2nd wife Anna. Only 2 pictures before 1970. Polk St SF 1930s at center and only known mom and dad together

i briefly looked into my mother's OSS connection. Nothing came up but i haven't filled out the paperwork yet either. I know she "did work" at "the foreign desk" and that's it.
Adm. Sherman's return to Washington as CNO, my 2nd brother's birth, with Adm Sherman as Godfather ...

to his baptism, and the Korean War breaking out, all occur within a short time. Tex was asked, not ordered, to go to Korea to "keep an eye on things" by Adm. Sherman. Which he did as CO of VF-113, "The Stingers". Tex knew it would be ugly as sitrep fubar, Corsairs were WWII..

and, due to the threat of nuclear exchange, a limited war. To sum up what Tex did in Korea the movie "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" would do it in a sitting. Despite the cartoon in the picture above VF-113 maintenance managed 100 missions on one, thoughts on MiG vs Corsair, low flying

One scene in the movie the "Bridges at Toko-Ri" is the use of the aircraft propulsion to dock a carrier or Operation Pinwheel. Renamed Operation Pinhead early on mom said that the movie put a very kind spin on what happened and that Tex was "completely livid" for years ...

afterwards if it was ever discussed. Tex and Sherman's relationship may have cooled because of the incident. Maintenance is King in the world of aircraft and Tex thought Operation Pinhead would kill pilots. They had enough maintenance issues:

I'm going to wrap up Korea with a single picture as testament that Tex's efforts, and especially the lives of his pilots and other servicemen, including those from other countries, were not in vain.
Taking a break, i'll wrap it up tomorrow. more excitement to come!

After Korea Tex loses his political standing with the death of Forrest Sherman. I have vague recollection of some backlash because Tex backed Sherman during the "Revolt of the Admirals". Tex trains pilots at Quonset Point, RI (where i, to dad's joy, was born on the 10th ...

anniversary of VJ Day), Corpus Christi, TX and Lincoln, Nebraska where, during the Starkweather-Fulgate murder spree, Tex spent several nights "out hunting". At Lincoln Tex is offered command of The Blue Angels but he declines and accepts command of VFAW-3 (1959), the only Navy..

squadron to report directly to NORAD. VFAW-3 was composed of F4-D Douglass Skyrays which, while having great performance stats, were a bit tricky to fly.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VFAW-3
Before Top Gun was a school it was an inter agency aerial gunnery contest, which Tex's VFAW-3...

won in 1959. They also received several other awards. Tex was proud of VFAW-3s safety record and i think this is when the number of hours flown per pilot death rose above 10,000. Tex once broke a bunch of windows at NAS North Island during an airshow when "my wingtips ...

fluttered and went supersonic". After VFAW-3 Tex, in peak sadness after his last flying command, was slated to head the airbase in Taiwan but that was not to be.
In late 1959 my mother was approached by intelligence types to "spy" on communist China. She was not to ...

tell anyone, including my father. Drury did not like this and discussed it with Tex fairly quickly. Their thoughts on the matter were that "once your approached, you're in" and that raising 3 kids on Taiwan was too great a risk now. Tex retires for this reason and that he ..

could no longer fly. Tex holds several civilian jobs afterwards, retires at about 55 years old (commute stress) and passes away in 1978 at 62 years of age. Tex spent his retirement years lobbying for car safety, especially seat belts.
Some odds and ends:

Tex's career ended with some impressive numbers, 4 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 13 Air Medals, more than 400 combat missions, and including seaplane recoveries, more than a thousand carrier landings. Pictured are Tex's "lucky charms" removed from his parachute, a rare patch ...

Commander Tex O'Neill was cremated and his ashes scattered west of Monterey California by VP-31 (P-3 Orions) at Moffett Field (my training sqd.). Everyone involved was wonderful. Mom was happy. Drury O'Neill passed about 10 years ago and was laid to rest in the same area.
/end

more tired than i thought i guess....
"Grey Ghost" and #grey_ghost where all the pictures plus some speeches are