George H. Maynor

George was 17-years-old when he had a ship model he build by hand, the USS Benham (DD-397) (MO 1943.190.8), sent to President Roosevelt in 1941. FDR sent George a special invitation to the opening of the FDR Library. However, George had to delay his visit to Hyde Park because he had joined the US Navy.

Aviation Machinist 1st Class aboard USS Hornet at the time of the Doolittle Raid. As Plane Captain he was directly involved with the B-25 Mitchell bombers and was on the flight deck when the Raiders took off. Entering the US Navy in May 1941 he joined the crew of the recently commissioned USS Hornet CV-8 immediately after training. As a Plane Captain assigned to GQ he was in charge of a team responsible for the maintenance of TBD Devastators and then TBM Avengers of Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8). He was directly involved with the preparation of the B-25 Mitchells for the Doolittle Raid and was on the Hornet's flight deck to witness their departure. As a crew member of the Hornet he saw action at the Battle of the Coral Sea, Guadalcanal and Midway and during the Hornet's final battle, when she was sunk at Santa Cruz on October 26th 1942., he was lucky to escape when the destroyer that rescued him was strafed by a Japanese fighter. He subsequently served on the USS Juneau and USS Nassau (CV-16) and was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation. (source: https://www.military-art.com/mall/profiles.php?SigID=2666)