Voris was born in Los Angeles but was raised in Aptos, and later Santa Cruz (where he attended high school).
He briefly considered a career as a mortician, but instead decided to enroll in Salinas Junior College, receiving his associate degree there in 1939.
As a youngster, Voris (whose hobby was building model airplanes out of balsa wood and tissue paper) was thrilled by the exploits of Eddie Rickenbacker and other World War I aces, and would spend hours watching the big planes come into Mines Field (Los Angeles Airport).

It is therefore no surprise that in 1941 the twenty-two-year-old Voris answered the call of a recruiting poster and enlisted in the Navy.
He related the story in an April, 2004 interview: "When the war clouds were rolling in, I was living in San Francisco.
I walked past a big recruitment sign that said 'Fly Navy' with a pilot looking off into the wild blue yonder standing on the wing of the plane."
Voris passed a series of exams and was called to duty in Oakland a month later.
Voris entered the Navy's flight training program, and was still in flight school when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched its attack on Pearl Harbor.

He received his commission, was promoted to the rank of ensign and got his "wings of gold" (which identified him as a naval aviator) at NAS Corpus Christi in February, 1942.
Voris was soon flying combat missions off the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the South Pacific.
Voris was born in Los Angeles but was raised in Aptos, and later Santa Cruz (where he attended high school). He briefly considered a career as a mortician, but instead decided to enroll in Salinas Junior College, receiving his associate degree there in 1939. As a youngster, Voris (whose hobby was building model airplanes out of balsa wood and tissue paper) was thrilled by the exploits of Eddie Rickenbacker and other World War I aces, and would spend hours watching the big planes come into Mines Field (Los Angeles Airport).
It is therefore no surprise that in 1941 the twenty-two-year-old Voris answered the call of a recruiting poster and enlisted in the Navy. He related the story in an April, 2004 interview: "When the war clouds were rolling in, I was living in San Francisco. I walked past a big recruitment sign that said 'Fly Navy' with a pilot looking off into the wild blue yonder standing on the wing of the plane." Voris passed a series of exams and was called to duty in Oakland a month later. Voris entered the Navy's flight training program, and was still in flight school when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched its attack on Pearl Harbor.
He received his commission, was promoted to the rank of ensign and got his "wings of gold" (which identified him as a naval aviator) at NAS Corpus Christi in February, 1942. Voris was soon flying combat missions off the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the South Pacific.
Roy Marlin Voris