Remembering

Robert Duane Kent

Captain, United States Marine Corps

VMFA-314, MAG-13, 1ST MAW

From Dallas, Texas

06 December 1940 - 24 June 1974

Robert Duane Kent is on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Panel 36W Line 052 .

14 Sep 2005 A Vietnam Veteran myself, I've not met Captain Robert Kent but I have worn a POW-MIA Bracelet bearing his name since 1972, and I had always wondered about this man. I decided to do a Memorial Web Site to honor him. You can visit the site at http://captainrobertdkent.homestead.com\ I would like to include a poem here as a token of my appreciation in memory of Captain Robert D Kent and all the many other servicemen who have made the supreme sacrifice and given their lives for our country, so as to allow us the privilege of freedom we now have. THINGS YOU DIDN'T DO Remember the day I borrowed your brand new car and I dented it? I thought you'd kill me, but you didn't. And remember the time I dragged you to the beach, and you said it would rain and it did? I thought you'd say, "I told you so." But you didn't. Do you remember the time I flirted with all the guys to make you jealous, and you were? I thought you'd leave me, but you didn't. Do you remember the time I spilled strawberry pie all over your car rug? I thought you'd hit me, but you didn't. And remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was formal and you showed up in jeans? I thought you'd drop me, but you didn't. Yes, there were lots of things you didn't do. But you put up with me, and you loved me, and you protected me. There were lots of things I wanted to make up to you when you returned from Viet Nam, ... BUT YOU DIDN'T ... - Author uncertain - John Gordoski jgordoski@gmail.com A Note from The Virtual Wall On 20 December 1968 Captain Robert Kent, pilot, and 1stLt Richard G. Morin, systems operator, departed Chu Lai in F-4B BuNo 149427 for a night interdiction mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in southern Laos. As Captain Kent was prosecuting an attack against several trucks his aircraft was struck by AAA fire and crashed. There was no indication that either crewman ejected before impact. There are several minor oddities regarding this incident. First, 1stLt Morin apparently wasn't a qualified F-4B Radar Intercept Officer; his officer qualification code is "7582" - Naval Flight Officer, EA-6A/B Electronic Warfare qualified. That's not to suggest that he was incapable of functioning perfectly well as an F-4B rear-seater while the aircraft was being used for ground attack, but it is unusual. Second, although both men apparently were classed as Missing in Action, and 1stLt Morin was promoted while in that status, their cases ended differently. At some point the Marine Corps determined that 1stLt Morin died in the crash - his date of death is 20 Dec 1968. Captain Kent, on the other hand, was not promoted while in MIA status and he was declared dead by action of the Secretary of the Navy with a date of death of 24 June 1974. Third, while all available government records are consistent in placing this incident on 20 December, Hobson's usually authoritative Vietnam Air Losses puts it on the night of 24/25 December 1968. None of that changes the blunt facts that the aircraft went down in Laos, and that both men went with it. As of 17 Oct 2005 their remains have not been repatriated.

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