BiographyJacob J. Elefant served on board the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11) during World War II. Elefant, from Brooklyn, New York, enlisted in the U.S. Navy on September 11, 1942, his 21st birthday. Following basic training, he went to catapult school at the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Memphis, Tennessee. Elefant joined the crew of Intrepid as a plank owner, a member of the ship's commissioning crew in August 1943. He was an aviation machinist's mate second class (AMM2). Elefant was detached from the ship's crew on June 22, 1945.