| | Published July 4th, 2012
| A Hug for All Time
| | Laurie Snyder |  | | Kenny Bratton, Bronze Star winner and subject of Wayne Miller's inspiring photograph, was honored in 1944 for his service to the nation. General Motors' Eastern Aircraft Division scrapbook photo courtesy of the National Aviation Museum and U.S. Department of the Navy.
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The faces in Wayne Miller's war photos still radiate such raw emotion that, even nearly 70 years later, viewers are compelled to ask, "I wonder whatever happened to those boys?"
Kenneth Bratton was the gunner being pulled from the turret of an Avenger TBM torpedo bomber by Julius Bescos in one of the most memorable.
In 1943, Bescos was the guy who waved planes on and off of the USS Saratoga, and didn't know Bratton when he pulled him out of the plane.
Born in 1918, Kenny Bratton gave up life at Ole Miss after hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Son Ken recalls his father not saying much about the war, just that he "was always in a bad spot."
That bad spot materialized November 5, 1943 as Bratton's Avenger squadron faced 125 Japanese zeroes in the skies above Rabaul. Paul Barnett, the photographer who had taken Wayne Miller's place on Bratton's plane, was killed early on.
With a kneecap blown off and shrapnel in his back, Bratton grabbed a first aid kit, tied a tourniquet to his leg, and did what he could, unsure whether or not his plane was headed into the ocean. He couldn't hear the pilot, Henry Howard Caldwell, Commanding Officer of the Saratoga's Air Group.
Caldwell was actually okay, and was later awarded the Navy Cross for his determined conduct while landing his crippled plane containing 116 bullet holes, one fatally wounded crewmember, another severely wounded (Bratton).
Bratton received several medals including the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. Bescos earned the Silver Star for saving more men following a kamikaze attack on the Saratoga during its 1945 raid on Iwo Jima.
Sports fans know "Julie" Bescos as the eight-time USC letterman and coach who scored on-screen time as Clark Gable's stunt double in the 1935 film version of "Mutiny on the Bounty." Born in 1912, he worked his way up at StarKist Foods after the war to become National Sales Manager. He married, had kids and grandkids, and became a fixture at the Bing Crosby Invitational before being inducted into USC's Hall of Fame.
Bratton was sent on tour by the Navy, taking the stage with singer Kate Smith and actress Mary Martin to inspire Americans to buy war bonds and sacrifice for their nation.
Afterward, he married Louise and had four children who had children of their own. "He had a great sense of humor," says Ken. Bratton helped people without jobs make connections so that they could get working again. He also made sure that those facing hard times always had food.
Both Bratton and Bescos lived and loved well before losing battles with cancer in 1982 and 2009, respectively.
"I hope people realize the value ... the time they have with their parents," muses Bratton's daughter, Linda. "Be proud of them. We sure are of him."
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 | | Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire, 17 Dec 1943)
|  | | Left to right: Ensign Charles W. Miller, Ltjg. Henry H. Dearing and Ltjg. Bus Alber head for their planes on board the USS Saratoga November 5, 1943. Dearing was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1946.
Photographer: Wayne F. Miller. Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives.
|  | | "They're passengers going out to Hell and back. Hoping to come back," said Miller of airmen aboard the USS Ticonderoga suiting up for their strike on Manila, Philippine Islands, November 1944.
Photographer: Wayne F. Miller. Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA