Posted on 01/07/2017 2:57:39 PM PST by Revski
This memorial of the USS Forrestal,CVA 59; it will be 50 years ago this July 29-Th; has actual pictures and the voice of Captain John K. Beling at the time of the fires. The Hymn played is, Pass Me Not Oh Gentle Savior, with mandolin and verse sung was covered by me, o7jimmy – (Revski).
Yes and he was the only one transferred out that night.
A proper investigation wasn’t done as to the cause of the accident.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rocket-causes-deadly-fire-on-aircraft-carrier
A stray Zuni rocket misfire from another aircraft struck McCain’s aircraft while he was prepping his aircraft. I dislike McCain too, but I can’t lay this one on him.
Do you recall the book that referred to the Carrier Fire that was written along the theme of Four Horses of the Apocalypse?
I believe it was about the Enterprise but having trouble recalling it....
We call those people idiots and liars.
When we're feeling euphemistic ...
Anyone who thinks John McCain, sitting in his A4 Skyhawk prepping it for flight, had anything to do with an electrical fault on an F4 Phantom on the other side of the deck is delusional. Or lying. Or a moron.
I joined one of the two F-4B squadrons involved in that accident shortly after the fact. We then deployed on two more cruises on Forrestal. My friends who were aboard in July, 1967 were particularly sensitive to ‘fire on the flight deck’ and ‘fire on the hangar deck’ alarms. It was contageous.
I often paused at the memorial plaque between Hangar Bays 1 & 2 and thought about the guys whose names were inscribed thereon.
Thanks for the tribute to them.
Indeed, he was. In addition to nearly sinking an aircraft carrier, he crashed several planes. He was Viet Cong war hero.
My promised article concerning McCain and the USS Forrestal(CV-59) Fire
post by FReeper dunblak who "was the Public Affairs Officer for RAdm Harvey Lanham and was on the Forrestal’s flag bridge for much of the day, ..." the day being the day of the fire.
Ya know what?
If mccain had nothing to do with the chain of events that day he had a d@mn strange way of showing it
He was the first guy to jump ship- left while it was still burning - while every other man in the ship was engaged in damage control
Flew off to Saigon with the reporter who,had come out to
cover the story
Said he needed some R&R time
He missed the memorial service for his shipmates
Including his deck crew chief and the pilot next to him who died when ordnance was jettisoned from McCains aircraft
Yeah the official story was McCain’s bombs dropped due to the Zuni missile hitting his aircraft - but it didn’t hit his aircraft as mccain claims in his own book
You’d think a guy would remember that detail
The errant Zuni hit the plane oarked next to McCains - pilot was Fred White
Fred White made it out of his cockpit only to be killed by the blast of bomb or bombs dropped from john McCains aircraft
circumstantial evidence is that John jettisoned his bombs in the panic to get out of the cockpit
A reporter who did a very good piece on this incident found major discrepancies in McCains book and the actual accident report
McCains book curiously omits any mention of the pilot who died beside him in the blast of bombs from McCains aircraft ,LCDR Fred D. White . If I was the wife or child of Fred White I sure would have welcomed a visit from MR McCain who,witnessed my loved ones death. Just a courtesy expression if sympathy maybe. Having lost my own father I remember his crew mate who came to our family and stood by us all of his life
John rejoined his crippled ship as it made its way to the Philipines - he seemed driven to get back into combat and was in fact shot down while recklessly flying into AAA ( not a SAM another discrepancy in his own memoirs ) shortly after finally being assigned to another carrier which wasn’t an easy gig for him to get
This is an interesting read. Draw your own conclusions about John S. McCain and the demons I think he has battled for many years
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081007_investigating_john_mccains_tragedy_at_sea#.Va5aMEmVXUw.mailto
John McCain was at a bar in Saigon before these fires were extinguished
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081007_investigating_john_mccains_tragedy_at_sea#.Va5aMEmVXUw.mailto
That’s what he said
He lied
The Zuni rocket hit the plane of LCDR Fred D. White, next to McCain
LCDR White made it out of his cockpit but was killed on deck,along with several,other men in a bomb blast caused by jettisoned ordnance from McCains aircraft
My brother was transferred off the ship just before she left for WESTPAC. His family didn’t know he was off. Terrible time for the family, until I called some contacts and found him on the west coast at a shore station. By then, I was out of active duty but had got a commission in the Reserves. One of the few times I “played officer.”
If only they had done a breathalyzer on Johnny McCain that day, history might have been SO different.
How would you rate his skill-set and leadership abilities?
Thanks. Got it. Actually I’ve spent little time on warships at sea. But I’ve told many people that there are few places where 19-21 year olds are more professional and dedicated than on a flight deck. It is amazing to me how everyone can move around in such close quarters and not have many more accidents. And landings at night in bad weather on a flight deck take amazing nerves. I have a friend who is retired as CPO. We talked about the Chief’s emblem. It is a fouled anchor. Who will go down the line in the old days and un-foul the anchor? A chief. And if you look at he video of the fire on the Forrestal you see a Chief pick up an extinguisher and head for the fire. He disappears into a mist...that’s all that is left of him.
I worked under a few really good chiefs, a lot of decent ones, and one really bad one.
I had some great chiefs...there was one guy, Chief Waters, and we called him “Chief Muddy Waters” due his constant use of Red Man chew and the constant stream of brown spit from his mustachioed mouth. He had a penchant for giving nicknames to people, if I ever thought about it advance, I think I would have hoped I got a good one, but it never occurred to me he was the fountain of a lot of nicknames. One guy he called Stinky, and boy, did he hate that name. Another guy was “Wingnut”, a play on his real name, and he never liked it, though I thought it was a good one. Chief Muddy Waters did like a drink and I was with him several times when he had tied on a fee, he was a funny guy, and wasn’t mean, but I don’t remember him being a good or bad Navy chief or mechanic.
Another one was Chief Moore. Best person I served under, knew his job, knew how to treat everyone above and below him, never ever lost his temper, one of the most even-keeled men I ever knew. Handled the bureaucracy of the Maintenance Department very ably, and was an excellent section chief and jet mechanic. He had black hair and extremely blue eyes. He also dipped constantly (I was a Yankee, and didn’t know a lot of guys who dipped or chewed.) Best story about him involved an extremely angry flight deck officer and some maintenance issue with one of our planes. I was one of the flight deck troubleshooters in my squadron, and there were a few of us huddled there on the flight deck after all the planes were tied town and we were done for the day. Chief Moore was standing across from me, when this flight deck officer come stomping over into the group and starts yelling at Chief Moore. The chief had a styrofoam cup and was filling it with spit, the side of his mouth bulging out unnaturally, as his head would bow imperceptibly at the same time the hand would come up just a little, and a squirt of tobacco juice would come out from under his spiky black moustache and jet into the cup.
Chief Moore just stood there expressionlessly, his bright blue eyes not changing, and the officer is getting madder and madder, just about to come to the peak of his anger, and Chief Moore just tipped his chin ever so slightly, bought the cup up a bit, and spit into his styrofoam cup.
The officer just completely stopped in mid-sentence. To this day, I do believe that Chief Moore was something a cobra sizing up his prey, and knew just what to do at exactly the right time when he spit. Without saying another word, the officer just turned around and walked away.
I sure did admire Chief Moore.
We did have one Chief, I won’t name him, but let’s say he was so universally disliked that nobody would have been surprised if he didn’t show up for work one morning at sea. Pretty amazing one person could alienate so many people, but, he did.
Silverleaf, really. McCain bore no responsibility that day. None. He just happened to be in that plane at that time. The Navy’s report is accurate. The investigation was very thorough, lots of witnesses giving sworn testimony.
Just stop with that, please. It simply isn’t valid, true or even deserved.
I despise McCain and his politics, I don’t know what to think of his time in Hanoi other than what has been publicly told, so I won’t criticize him for that. And I admire his father and Grandfather who were both capable men, even if his grandfather had to take the fall for the second typhoon off Okinawa in 1945. He willingly and knowingly fell on his sword for his good friend Halsey, and I respect that.
So, go after McCain with everything else you have, I’ll be alongside of you. But on this, we cannot agree. Nothing personal, Silverleaf.
No...I don’t. If it comes to you, will you FreepMail it to me?
I love stories like this. My dad was never in the military but he told me that from what he had heard, if I listen to my NCO’s I’ll be OK. I can’t begin to tell you how good advice that was. As a 2/Lt at my first duty station they made me the training officer for 400 people. I followed my dad’s advice and backed my senior NCO’s and soon senior officers are saying, “How has that butter bar turned that office around?”
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