US Navy Aviation Radioman 3rd Class Vernon Doyle Pletcher was born in Flint, Michigan on April 14, 1924, the son of Bernis Talmer Pletcher (1899-1964) and Golda Lee Criswell (1902-1976). His parents were married in 1919 in Stoddard, MO and his father supported the family as a factory worker at an automobile plant in Davison, Michigan. Little information is available on Doyle's early life except that he was in farming as late as 1940 and he finished high school in c1941. We also know that he enlisted in the US Navy on July 10, 1941 and was sent to NAS Pensacola two months later on September 14, 1941. His rating at the time was "able seaman" and by the muster roll of December 31 ,1941 he was already a 2nd Class Seaman.
While stationed in Pensacola, he met and married Miss Norma Louise Bryan (1926-) on October 10, 1943 with one child born to the union Sharon Louise Pletcher (1944-1947). Norma was the daughter of James Clyde Bryan (1897-1956) and Matilda "Tillie" McCarty (1898-Remarried Floyd Grice Sr.). Her parents were originally from Kentucky and had moved to Pensacola around 1941. James was employed with the L&N Railroad as an engineer for 36 years.
Along the way, Vernon was sent to radio school where he became an "aviation radioman" although we do not know whether he was on a carrier or with a land-based squadron. Both would require his services as an aviation radioman. On September 27, 1944 he and his fellow crewmen took off on a "ferry mission" in the South Pacific and were never heard from again. An extensive search was conducted but was unsuccessful and all were reported as missing in action. They were later listed as dead according to Navy policy.
His wife Norma and daughter were notified at her home at 1512 East Lee Street that her husband would not be returning home. Two years later, she would remarry another Navy WWII and Korean War veteran James Durrell Roberts (1924-1997) in 1945. He was a native of Pensacola and would retire from Goldring Inc after 37 years as a merchandiser. Sadly, Vernon's only child, Sharon Louise would pass away at the age of 2-years old in 1947 and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery along with her maternal grandfather.
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