Richard Lee OwensChief Aviation Structural MechanicVA-46, CVW-17, USS FORRESTAL United States Navy 11 May 1929 - 29 July 1967 Fresno, California Panel 24E Line 038 |
 
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The database page for Richard Lee Owens
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Dick, as teenagers we learned to fly together, and we should still be flying together. With my 230 combat sorties, and your Navy carrier experience, we could have told war stories forever. At a high school reunion, I reminded our classmates about you, and told them you were killed in action. Rest in peace, Brother Bird Man!
Vernon P. Wagner, Lt Col, USAF (Ret) |
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.
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Although the database indicates Chief Owens' date of birth is 11 May 1929, there is reason to believe it is incorrect. If one assumes he was 18 when he was graduated in 1954, he would have been born around 1936. |
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The point-of-contact for this memorial is a friend and former classmate, Vernon P. Wagner, Lt Col, USAF (Ret) av8rdoc@yahoo.com |
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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 29 Feb 2004
Last updated 10/18/2007