03 Oct 2002 REMEMBERED by a fellow "Swift Boat" sailor, Terry Boone mtboone@aol.com

 

24 Aug 2004 REMEMBERED by his sister, Annie Parardiso Oakley, California 94561-4312 anniebelen48@hotmail.com

 

Notes from The Virtual Wall On the night of 16 June 1968, PCF-19 was cruising on a routine patrol offshore northern South Vietnam. A sudden explosion rocked, then sunk, the small ship. Four of its crewmen were lost that night: QM2 Frank Bowman, Walterboro SC; body not recovered BM2 Anthony G. Chandler, Warner Robbins GA; body not recovered EN2 Edward C. Cruz, Inarajan Guam GMC2 Billy S. Armstrong, West Helena AR Lieutenant (junior grade) John Davis, who commanded PCF-19, and crewman John Anderegg were the only two survivors. Anderegg had kept Bowman's head above water until he determined that Bowman was dead; he then turned his attention to the badly wounded Davis. There was no certainty about how it happened - some said the PCF was attacked by North Vietnamese helicopters while others believed that a friendly aircraft had attacked the boat by accident. Eventually the US Air Force concluded that one of its aircraft had attacked the swift boat, believing it to be a North Vietnamese PT boat - a "friendly fire" incident. What was certain was that four men had died, and that two had not been recovered. On 6 October 1993, an armbone fragment was recovered from a grave ashore; a Vietnamese fisherman stated that he had recovered the bone and buried it. It was almost 8 years before the fragment could be positively identified through DNA testing, but once done there was another certainty: Tony Chandler had come home. All that remained of Petty Officer Chandler was buried in the Centerville (Georgia) City Cemetery on 16 June 2001 - a sailor finally home from the sea. Petty Officer Bowman has not come home.

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