A three-war Marine and double Navy Cross recipient died recently– Colonel Kenneth “Kannibal Ken” Reusser. He was an archetype of the hard-fighting hard-flying Marine aviator, as his two Navy Cross citations will attest. The action in which he and his wingman “ate” the Jap plane is memorably illustrated in LtCol Alex Durr’s painting.
Towards the end of his life it looks like he got a bad break, and then a raw deal on top of it. I wish the guy who swindled him could get his ass chopped off by a Corsair prop. But, if he’s serving time, that might not be far from the truth…
It’s been a bad month for hard-core Old Corps Marine flyers. Here’s to you, Col Reusser.
One of my favorite WW2 stories. I didn’t realize there was a painting, thanks for pointing that out.
amazing- I heard this story years ago, and chalked it up as a military equivlant of an urban legend. Nice to see it was true!