Marion L. Nutter Jr.
Aviation Radioman Third Class • U.S. Navy • Serial 08117893
Patrol Bomber Squadron VPB-17
Entered service from New Jersey • Died May 25, 1945
Missing in action or buried at sea — Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines
Awards: Purple Heart
Introduction
Top Row from Left to Right: Marion Nutter, P. Orberdorffer, William S. Cass, Chester Shoemake, Gerry Slick, and Oliver Plumb. Front Row from Left to Right: Ralph Halstead, Robert Bunge, Fredrick W. Forman, Amedo Ligrani, and Robert White.
Aviation Radioman Third Class Marion L. Nutter Jr. was from Glendora, Gloucester Township NJ. He served with Patrol Bomber Squadron VPB-17, which was stationed aboard the Seaplane Tender USS Currituck II (AV-7) in the Philippines.
On May 25, 1945, Nutter was part of a crew flying a PBM-5 Mariner (Bureau No. 59126) on a night masthead bombing attack on a Japanese destroyer in the China Sea. The aircraft was shot down by enemy fire. Of the eleven men aboard, only two survived: pilot LTjg F.W. Forman of Baltimore, Maryland, and co-pilot ENS R.S. Bunge of East Hartford, Connecticut. The two survivors made their way to the China Coast and, using their evasion and escape knowledge, located friendly Chinese who evacuated them inland to Kunming. Those lost in the mission included Marion Nutter and crewmen ENS A. Ligrani, W.S. Cass, C.M. Shoemake, G.R. Slick, and R.D. White.
Marion Nutter is memorialized on the Glendora and Gloucester Township, NJ, World War II memorials.
My name is William Cass. I wrote a poem in memory of my great uncle who was killed on patrol in a PBM on May 25, 1945. I have attached a poem about the Purple Heart his mother received.
— William Cass
The Purple Heart
By William Scott Cass, in loving memory of William Stephen CassAt the bottom of the beautiful laden sea,
lies the grave of someone I knew, but never met.
He lived his life as a sailor, but he died as a savior.
The ones he left behind will always
remember his passing, he received a
blessing, that should be in red, not in purple.
The red would stand for the blood
spilt to receive it, the gold
figurehead stands for the First
Commander who gave it.
The colors that hold it stand for the
Glorious Country that cries each time it is given.
On the back of the medal the names are
scrolled to remember those who received it.
The shape is in that of a heart to show
where the true idea of giving it came from.
The purple and gold are in memory of
where you may be now, and where we
someday may join you.