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LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — Retired Marine Col. Jefferson DeBlanc Sr., an ace fighter pilot who won the Medal of Honor during World War II, is dead at the age of 86.
DeBlanc, of St. Martinville, died Thursday at Lafayette General Medical Center, of complications of pneumonia.
His funeral Mass was scheduled at noon Monday at at St. Martin de Tours Roman Catholic Church in St. Martinville, with visitation Sunday afternoon and evening and Monday morning at Pellerin Funeral Home, also in St. Martinville.
DeBlanc was awarded Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor for bravery, for his actions during a bombing raid against the Japanese in the Solomon Islands on Jan. 31, 1943.
A lieutenant barely in his 20s, he was in charge of the six planes providing air cover.
In an F4F Grumman Wildcat, he downed two Japanese float planes and one fighter before heading back for the Naval base at Henderson Field. But he spotted two more Japanese planes coming up behind the bombers.
Because all six fighters were low on fuel, Henderson ordered the rest of his flight group back to base. He took on and shot down the two enemy aircraft alone, though it was unlikely he would have enough fuel to make it back safely.
His plane was hit, and DeBlanc parachuted into the ocean and swam all night to reach Kolombarangara Island.
There, he was captured by local tribesmen and bartered to a friendly tribe for a sack of rice.
He was eventually picked up by a Navy float plane and reunited with his squadron.
DeBlanc was decorated several times for his service in the war before and after that engagement.
He said in a 1998 interview that after he had shot down the five planes, he stopped to look at his watch, which flew off his hand a split-second later when his instrument panel exploded in his face.
He said in 1998 that he used a Japanese uniform stolen from a barge and traveled by night to reach a place where U.S. forces could be contacted and pick him up.
DeBlanc recovered from his wounds and went on to see action in several other campaigns in the war.
After the war, he returned to St. Martinville. He was a school teacher and administrator, and retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1972.