Thank you, Kent, for recognizing Lefty. I talked to him at our five year reunion and remember him saying how lucky he was to be doing what he loved. He was a great guy!!
Thanks so much for penning the appropriate words in memory of Lefty. Brought to mind my memory of that long ago Fall of 1972 loss of our classmate. I was aboard the USS MIDWAY (CVA-41) that day, in combat operations on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf. I received the news of Lefty's MIA status about three weeks later in a letter from my father. Mail commonly took 10-20 days to find us sailors at sea in those days - no email then, of course. Sad day that I will never forget.
Unfortunately, I experienced that kind of day again on 10 Jan 1973, when two good friends and shipmates in my squadron (VA-115) were shot down in combat over Nghe An Province, North Vietnam, and also declared MIA. LT Mike McCormick and LTJG Robert Clark were finally found in 2002. All three heroes now are memorialized together - their names are chiseled 35 lines apart on the same Vietnam War Memorial panel (W1, Lines 75 & 110) and their graves are within sight of each other in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 60. I visit them every time I travel to Washington, DC.
It was a tough combat cruise for my squadron in 1972-1973. The last four Grumman Intruder A-6 Naval aviators ever killed in combat were my VA-115 shipmates.
Debbie Rader (Morris)
His graduation picture does not reflect him.....I never saw him without that big smile.....
Janeen Bilsland (Rudd)
I agree, Debbie!
Judy Perkins (Perkins)
I also agree!
John Tharp
Lefty was a rebel, an inspiration.Cindy Smith (Wade)
Thank you Kent for recognizing Lefty on this Memorial Day. Thank you for your ultimate sacrifice.
Cheryl Spees (Marshall)
Thank you, Kent, for recognizing Lefty. I talked to him at our five year reunion and remember him saying how lucky he was to be doing what he loved. He was a great guy!!
Frank Bassett
Thank you for posting about Lefty. I remember seeing his name on the Vietnam Wall. I was a fellow comrade in the Air Force. Frank Bassett
Thomas Craig Thetford
Kent,Thanks so much for penning the appropriate words in memory of Lefty. Brought to mind my memory of that long ago Fall of 1972 loss of our classmate. I was aboard the USS MIDWAY (CVA-41) that day, in combat operations on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf. I received the news of Lefty's MIA status about three weeks later in a letter from my father. Mail commonly took 10-20 days to find us sailors at sea in those days - no email then, of course. Sad day that I will never forget.
Unfortunately, I experienced that kind of day again on 10 Jan 1973, when two good friends and shipmates in my squadron (VA-115) were shot down in combat over Nghe An Province, North Vietnam, and also declared MIA. LT Mike McCormick and LTJG Robert Clark were finally found in 2002. All three heroes now are memorialized together - their names are chiseled 35 lines apart on the same Vietnam War Memorial panel (W1, Lines 75 & 110) and their graves are within sight of each other in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 60. I visit them every time I travel to Washington, DC.
It was a tough combat cruise for my squadron in 1972-1973. The last four Grumman Intruder A-6 Naval aviators ever killed in combat were my VA-115 shipmates.
Tom
CDR Thomas C. Thetford, USN(Ret)
Bruce W. Dunlap
Remembering and horning a fellow Viet Nam vet.
Capt Brucer W. Dunlap
Dave Thomas
Lefty was one of my best friends. When we saw each other at the 5 yr. reunion I had already gone and come
back from Vietnam. I told him he really didn't want to go and he said "Oh yes I do!" He wanted to fly in combat
and it was what he had been working towards since high school. His dad was Air Force so I guess it was just
following in his dad's footsteps. Twenty years or so later I woke up to find his picture on the Oregonian because
he was finally coming home. I'll always miss him.
David Thomas