Edward Crus Cruz
Petty Officer Second Class
PCF-19, COSDIV 12, TF 115, USNAVFORV
United States Navy
Inarajan, Guam
October 03, 1945 to June 16, 1968
EDWARD CRUZ CRUZ is on the Wall at Panel W56, Line 2

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Combat Action Ribbon
 
Edward C Cruz
navforv.gif tf-115.gif cosdiv12.png

 
03 Oct 2002

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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: 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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