Shady, Max E. 

MAX EUGENE SHADY

AVIATION ORDNANCEMAN THIRD CLASS

Max Eugene Shady was born on April 25, 1925, in Preble Township to Hubert and Marie (Corson) Shady. Max had one sister, Virginia (Hazelwood), and a brother, Jack Shady. His father, Hubert died of pneumonia in 1926, and Marie married August Peck in 1932. With this marriage, Max gained a stepbrother, Frederick Peck. Max attended grade school at Magley and finished his junior year of high school at Decatur Junior-Senior High School. Max would often sing in school events or plays and it was said he had "a nice voice". 

Near the conclusion of his senior year in high school, Max enlisted into the U.S. Navy on his 17th birthday, April 25, 1942. His diploma would be awarded after he entered the service. He received basic navy training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois, and aviation ordnance training at Jacksonville Fla. Petty Officer Shady earned his wings upon completion of gunner training in June 1943. He was then assigned to combat duty aboard the USS Belleau Wood as an aerial gunner on a Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber, which was on its shakedown cruise in the Caribbean Sea. 

The USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) was originally laid down in 1941 as a light cruiser but was re-designated as an Independence Class Light Aircraft Carrier after the attack at Pearl Harbor. It's aircraft inventory included Grumman F6F Hellcats and Avenger torpedo bombers. After its shakedown cruise and repairs in May 1943, the Belleau Wood and its fresh crew sailed through the Panama Canal enroute to Pearl Harbor where it arrived in August. A brief stopover in Hawaii led to a chance encounter with another Decatur High School classmate, Milo Stalter who wrote home that the two had met. By September, the Belleau Wood joined Task Group 11.2 bound to provide air support for the invasion of Baker Island in the South Pacific. 

Task Group 11.2 arrived off Baker Island on September 1, 1943 and immediately scored an aerial kill of a Japanese "Emily" flying boat by one of their Hellcat Fighters. Over the next several weeks, aircraft from the Belleau Wood conducted combat air patrol (CAP) missions in support of the ground invasion and the construction of an airstrip on Baker Island. 

On September 2, 1943, AOM3 Shady's Avenger took off from the USS Belleau Wood on a lookout mission. The motor of the aircraft, however, failed causing the plane to crash into the sea. Although he was picked up from the sea by a destroyer, he later died of internal injuries. He was buried at sea with full military honors. 

Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Shady is honored on the Wall of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu Haiwaii. Memorial markers also exist at St. Luke United Church of Christ Cemetery in Decatur, Indiana. 

For his service and sacrifice, AOM3 Shady earned the American Theatre Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the WWII Victory Medal. 

Information researched and collected by Clifton Inskeep (2018), Damien Moore (2019), and Alicia Smith (2023). 

SOURCES

           “AOM3 Max Eugene Shady (1925-1943) - Find a Grave...” Www.findagrave.com, www.findagrave.com/memorial/56122028/max-eugene-shady. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

           “Belleau Wood (CVL-24).” Public1.Nhhcaws.local, www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/ships/aircraft-carriers/uss-belleau-wood.html. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

County youth is killed in action. (1943, September 10). The Berne Witness.

Decatur High School. Ravelings. 1944. Print.

“Home | The Berne Witness.” Home | The Berne Witness, bernewitness.com/.

“Records Of Enlistment.” Notes and Queries, 3 Sept. 1943.

           “Max Eugene Shady (1925-1943) - Find a Grave...” Www.findagrave.com, www.findagrave.com/memorial/56849535/max-eugene-shady. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

“USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Apr. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Belleau_Wood_(CVL-24).

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