Stuffed in odd places around home were a full share of tarnished Navy Crosses, D.F.C.s and Air Medals from World War II. But for four years everybody in VF-781 had been too busy flying in the present to bother polishing up the past. One weekend every month 36 Naval Reserve pilots would converge on the Los Alamitos (Calif.) Naval Air Station and thunder off on maneuvers in their stubby Grumman Hellcat fighters—unanimously elated to escape from the humdrum chores of selling insurance, studying law or changing diapers. Their bashful, blond skipper, Lieut....
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