What happened to the first squadron commander who took the Corsair into combat?

Major William E. Gise was a Marine pilot and commanding officer of VMF-124. That squadron was the first Marine unit to fly the Vought F4U Corsair during World War II. A dozen of the unit's F4U-1s, under his command, reached Henderson Field on February 12. The squadron landed on Guadalcanal on the morning of February 12, 1943, with Gise at the lead. It flew its first mission before lunch that same day: twelve F4Us escorted a PBY Catalina on a 230-mile mission.

On May 13, 1943, Gise was flying a Corsair (F4U-1 02178) on a mission to intercept a Japanese reconnaissance bomber near the Russell Islands. The Americans engaged its fighter escort in what was described as the first real Corsair combat in that area, and came out clear winners: they claimed 16 Zeros shot down for the loss of four of their own aircraft.

Gise was one of those lost: he disappeared during the air combat and never returned to base. He was declared dead on May 14, 1945.