Ensign Clifford S. Mehelich graduated in June 1941 and served as a navy pilot on the USS Bennington during World War II. He and two crew members of his Avenger TBM-3 flew missions over Hokkaido Japan and after their plane was damaged by anti-aircraft fire they crash landed in the ocean 25 miles off the coast but survived in a raft for three days before landing on the coast after a battle with fisherman that killed Radioman Dortsch. Mehelich and Davis were captured by Japanese soldiers and placed into solitary confinement for the last month of the war before the Japanese surrender. The POWs were released from their cells on August 15, 1945 and repatriated nearly a month later. Their photo can be seen on the web site
http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/hokkaido/sapporo/pow_pic_1.html

I am doing research on WWII and I hope you can send me any info about Mehelich at Greenway H.S. class of 1941 Thanks, Jim Mockford mockford@teleport.com