Wayne Harry Ott
Airman
VF-74, CVW-17, USS FORRESTAL, TF 77, 7TH FLEET
United States Navy
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
October 06, 1945 to July 29, 1967
WAYNE H OTT is on the Wall at Panel 24E, Line 38

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The photo and following article is taken from The Philadelphia Daily News, special supplement entitled 'SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY,' October 26, 1987.

The 21-year-old Navy airman, assigned to the USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Viet Nam, died July 29, 1967, as the result of a fire and explosions aboard the giant aircraft carrier that took 10 (sic) lives. The accident also claimed the life of William J. Shields, another Philadelphia veteran. Ott, following in a brother's footsteps, had enlisted in the Navy in April 1966 after attending Dobbins Vocational High School and working as a printer's apprentice at Chilton Co., 56th and Chestnut streets. Survivors included his father and two brothers.

From a native Philadelphian and Marine,
Jim McIlhenney
christianamacks@comcast.net


 

The Incident

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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.

Airman Wayne H. Ott was one of the 135.

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