Dennis Michael Barton
Lieutenant
VA-46, CVW-17, USS FORRESTAL, TF 77, 7TH FLEET United States Navy Des Moines, Iowa January 15, 1935 to July 29, 1967 DENNIS M BARTON is on the Wall at Panel 24E, Line 14 |
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Denny graduated in the June1954 from North High School. After High School, he went to college at Iowa State Teachers College (54-55), Cedar Falls. Fo rthe next year, he worked at the Camelback Inn, Phoenix (55-56). He joined the Naval Reserve while attending the University of Iowa (1956-59) and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1959 when he received his Commision as a LTjg. He spent the summer of 1959 Spent summer at Clear Lake. He entered on active duty and took his Officer Training, earning his pilot's wings at Jacksonville Naval Air Station. It is not clear when his assignment to Pensacola Naval Air Station as a flight instructor took place but by 23 February 1964 he was back at Jacksonville as The Des Moines Register published the engagement of Gloria Elilzabeth Bell to Lt Dennis Martin while at Cecil Field in Jacksonville. An April 11 wedding was planned. In The Des Moines Register, page 37, on 12 April 1964 the following was announced: Gloria Elizabeth Bell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Terrell Bell of Jacksonville, Fla.. was married Saturday to Lt. Dennis Michael Barton, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Barton, 1107 Twenty-Second St. The ceremony took place at St. Bidwards Chapel at the Naval Air Station. Jacksonville. From August 1966 to January 1967, Roosevelt made her only deployment to Southeast Asia, spending a total of 95 days "on the line." It is not known if LT Barton served on the "Rosie" during that cruise. In June, 1967 he went aboard the USS Forrestal (CVA-59) as a pilot in Squadron VA-46. The ship departed Norfolk, Virgina enroute to Southeast Asia via Brazil, Africa, and the Philippines. USS FORRESTAL arrived on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin on 25 July 1967 and immediately began combat operations. The first four days were routine; the fifth day, 29 July, was not. At 10:52 AM a 5-inch Zuni rocket accidentally fired across the crowded flight deck, impacting an armed A-4 Skyhawk. The resulting explosions and fires raged for 13 hours and more, killing 135 crewmen with hundreds more injured. More information with a list of the dead are on The Virtual Wall's USS FORRESTAL Memorial. On page 1 of the Des Moines Register on July 31, 1967: Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E Barton, 1107 Twenty-second St, were told Sunday afternoon that their son, Navy Lt. Dennis M. Barton, 32, is missing on the U.S. carrier Forrestal. Mrs. Barton's son is a Navy pilot on the Forrestal. Previously, he was stationed at Jacksonville, Fla. where his wife Gloria lives. They have no children. The 18 crewman who perished on the USS Forrestal and buried in Arlington National Cemetery are:
- - The Virtual Wall, June 24, 2014
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