This photograph captures the officers and enlisted airmen of Composite Squadron VC-76 mustered on the flight deck of the escort carrier USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) in January 1945, while operating in the South China Sea in support of Allied landings in the Philippines. Composite squadrons combined fighter aircraft, such as the FM-2 Wildcat visible at left, with torpedo bombers like the TBM/TBF Avenger seen here, giving small escort carriers both strike and defensive capability. Under the command of Commander J.W. McCauley, the squadron's identification board and insignia commemorate this moment during one of the Pacific War's final campaigns. Project: 218455