Another Navy flyer over Okinawa was Lt. Commander Billy Victor Gates who was launching off the USS Sargent Bay. He was born on June 21, 1916 in Henry County, Missouri, the son of Charles Parson Gates and Jessica Lee Menefee. His family supported the family as a general farmer. Billy (left) enlisted in the US Navy on September 23, 1937 and while stationed in Pensacola he met Miss Ruby Nell Nellums, the daughter of William and Nellie Nellums. She was graduate of Pensacola High School in the Class of 1936. The young couple was married in 1941, and seven months later America was thrown into the chaos of World War II.
In April 1945, the USS Sargent Bay was assigned the mission of providing ground support, suppression of enemy artillery as well as select targets dictated by those on the ground. As the commanding officer of Squadron VC-83, he was ordered to report to the operation center for briefing on April 22, 1945. He was given all the data on his bombing target for the day then prepared for takeoff. They launched early that morning and headed for Okinawa with Billy in the lead in his FM-2 Wildcat fighter. No one knows exactly what happened, but witnesses observed a mid-air collision over Okinawa and two planes were falling.
Since Billy never returned to the ship, it was assumed that one of them was him. His body was never recovered, although there is a memorial marker at Arlington National Cemetery and another at the family's Urich Cemetery in Missouri.
Lt. Commander Billy Victor Gates, Commander of VC-83 Squadron
VC-83 Squadron
Pensacola News Journal Article of 5-3-1945
Gravestone in memory, Urich Cemetery, Henry County, Missouri