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Robert Royes
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A day late.. on July 29,1967 USS Forrestal Tonkin Gulf

July 31, 2019 · in Uncategorized · 10 · 1.6K

On that day 134 sailor were killed on board Forrestal in a fire caused by a miss fired zuni rocket and aggravated by ancient ordinance cooking off in the resulting fire and explosions. The bronze plaque with the names of the dead once hung the hanger bay of Forrestal, I did a Med. on her ten years later and reading the names on it was quite sobering for a young sailor, a daily reminder of your mortality.

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10 responses

  1. A sad story indeed, but also one of heroism in the face of great danger by Farrier. May they never be forgotten.

  2. Yeah, the Forrest fire - a sad day.

  3. A lovely tribute, @roofrat. And a nice ‘On This Day’ with a personal connection.

    ‘Liked’

  4. Nicely remembered Robert, particularly with the personal angle.

  5. Here is a link to the documentary, Situation Critical: USS Forrestal. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HfnlWKdD2fI

    Interviews with the captain, pilots and other crew members are wound into the narrative making this a very compelling account of the disaster.

    • A very good documentary, a good read of that day is 'Sailors to the End' beside the event of that day it tells personal stories about how some ended up on Forrestal, joining the Navy in order to avoid the possible draft into the Army and jungles of Vietnam.

      1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

  6. Well done, Robert. May the memory of this great ship, and the lives lost while trying to remedy a terrible situation never be forgotten.

  7. I remember seeing "Trial by Fire" in bootcamp. I said to myself "What have I gotten myself into".

  8. Nice tribute Robert, I built this many years ago, long gone now, a friend gave me the decals, just need an F4B kit !

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

  9. Thanks Allan, an Airfix classic, I built this kit too, while I was in high school, it had the two navy options for VF-31 or VF-74,by coincidence I ended up serving in both squadrons

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