The Incident On 29 July 1967 the USS FORRESTAL was conducting combat operations off the coast of North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin. The ship was preparing to launch an ALPHA strike when a major fire broke out among the crowded aircraft on her deck, resulting in a series of 500 and 1000 pound bomb explosions. Thirteen hours later, the fires were extinguished - and 135 men were dead or dying, with hundreds more injured. Chief Petty Officer Richard Owens was one of the 135. Visit The Virtual Wall's USS FORRESTAL Memorial Page

 

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. The 18 crewman who perished on the USS Forrestal and buried in Arlington National Cemetery are: PO2 Marvin Jarrell Adkins Mallory, West Virginia LT Dennis Michael Barton Des Moines, Iowa AIRMAN Robert John Davies Rhinelander, Wisconsin PO2 Edward Robert Dorsey Wallingford, Connecticut PO1 Walter Tasman Eads Falls Church, Virginia PO1 John Junior Fiedler Janesville, Wisconsin PO3 Russell Larry Fike Orlando, Florida Airman Johnnie Lee Frazier Plainview, Texas Airman Ralph Edward Manning East Point, Georgia PO3 Leroy Moser Pollock, South Dakota CPO Richard Lee Owens Fresno, California PO2 Ernest Elijah Polston Lancaster, South Carolina PO3 John Mark Pruner New York, New York PO2 Dale Ray Ross Wentzville, Missouri PO2 John Francis Snow Rouses Point, New York Seaman Nelson Everett Spitler Upper Sandusky, Ohio LCDR Gerry Lyle Stark Seattle, Washington Airman Harold David Watkins Cleveland, Ohio - - The Virtual Wall, June 24, 2014

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