Shot down as a member of the famed "Grim Reapers" in 1942, he endured 3 years of captivity before going on to lead the Blue Angels before the decade ended. "Dusty" passed into the wild blue yonder on 26 November in a hospital in San Jose after a courageous bout with Stage 4 cancer that had spread throughout his body. Despite extensive chemotherapy and radiation at both Stanford and VA-Palo Alto, this was one opponent he could not surmount.
