BiographyDonald E. Freet served on board the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11) as a dive bomber pilot with Bombing Squadron 18 (VB-18), which served on board the ship in 1944 during World War II. Freet was a lieutenant junior grade during his time on Intrepid. He received the Navy Cross for scoring a hit on a Japanese aircraft carrier on October 25, 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.