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Joined the California National Guard Dec. 28, 1914; honorably discharged
on July 8, 1915, to enlist in the U.S. Navy, at age 17. Performed
various duties as a Navy enlisted man in the early days of his career.
During World War I, he served on one of the seven American destroyers
that steamed through the Suez Canal. As early as 1916 he was
serving aboard the USS Dale (after which his second son was named) in
Asiatic waters. As an Aviation Machinist Mate, received his Wings
on Sept. 28, 1928 - Naval Aviation Pilot #15-29; and was certified to
fly "Aircraft Heavier than Air." Story was that an officer came
along and said "Hoffman, we think you'd make a good pilot and we're
sending you to Pensacola."
While on a two-month furlough from the carrier Saratoga, where he was
serving as a Naval Aviator, he and another Navy pal drove a small
roadster (1928 Chevrolet) from Hampton Roads, VA, to Oceanside, CA, in 4
1/2 days. This noteworthy event was reported in the newspaper with
the headline "Hoffman Joins Drivers of Fame." Upon his return from
leave, he reported to the Lexington.
He flew many different types of aircraft, including the PN-9 Seaplane
(Naval Aircraft Factory), Martin T4M-1 Torpedo Bomber, Martin P3M-2
Patrol Bomber, Boeing F4B3 Fighter, Grumman F2F1, Brewster Buffalo, and
the P-40B. He was a Flying Chief in VF-2; this was a special
program for enlisted pilots in the Navy. He amassed over 3800
hours of flight time. He served aboard the Saratoga, Langley, and
Lexington, and included flying in Torpedo & Bombing Squadron 2. He
did, indeed, love to fly.
The Navy decided that anyone with more than 20 years of service was too
old to be a fighter pilot and with that, he was reassigned to
Jacksonville as a Flight Instructor, which he was not real fond of
doing. About that time, General Chennault was recruiting and he
"signed up." When he resigned to join the AVG, his Commander rated
him, for the record, "one of the best combat pilots in the Navy."
He was only about five years younger than Chennault and considerably
older than most other volunteers; but brought with him a tremendous
amount of flight experience.
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| AVG Service: |
Assigned to the First Squadron, Adam and Eves. Every Flying Tiger
enjoyed the pleasant warmth of his quiet smile, and had a deep and
profound respect for his wealth of technical knowledge and flying
know-how. In combat with Japanese bombers on December 20, 1941, he
displayed great coolness and bravery. He continued attacking the
enemy at short range even after all of his machine guns except one 30
cal. had ceased to fire. He was awarded a citation for this
action, which commended him on his bravery and his persistence in
attacking the enemy.
On January 26, 1942, Louis Hoffman, Flight Leader, was killed in action
when he alone attacked several Japanese fighters in order to delay them
from attacking the rest of the flight which was in a very
disadvantageous position at the moment. All of the remaining
pilots of the flight escaped this attack by the Japanese because of his
disregard for his own safety. His action in this situation
demonstrated the greatest bravery and fearlessness, in that he
sacrificed his own life in order to save his comrades.
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