1962 Cuban missile crisis began as JFK becomes aware of missiles in Cuba
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on October 16:
0042BC Tiberius Claudius Nero Roman emperor (14-37)
1758 Noah Webster lexicographer (Webster's Dictionary)
1816 William Preston Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1887
1825 Thomas Turpin Crittenden Brig Genl (Union volunteers), died in 1905
1851 James Ten Eyck champion rower/coach (Ten Eyck Trophy namesake)
1851 William Preston "Wild Bill" Longley a Psychopathic gunfighter is born in Texas
1854 Oscar Wilde [Fingal O'Flahertie Wills], Dublin, (Pic of Dorian Gray)
1863 Sir Austen Chamberlain British Foreign Secretary (Nobel 1925)
1886 David Ben-Gurion Plonsk Poland, 1st PM of Israel (1948-53, 55)
1888 Eugene O'Neill NYC, dramatist (Desire Under the Elms-Nobel 1936)
1890 Paul Strand NYC, photographer (Native Land-1942)
1898 Arthur H Dean lawyer/advisor to FDR
1898 William O Douglas Maine, US supreme court justice (1939-75)
1905 Rex Bell Chicago, cowboy (Cowboys & Injuns)
1908 Enver Hoxha post-war leader of Albania (1944-85)
1913 Alice Pearce NYC, comedienne/actress (Gladys Kravitz-Bewitched)
1921 Linda Darnell Dallas, Tx, actress (Unfaithfully Yours, 2nd Chance)
1921 Michael Conrad Washington Hgts NY, actor (Delvecchio, Hill St Blues)
1925 Angela Lansbury London England, actress (Mrs. Iselin-The Manchurian Candidate,Jessica-Murder She Wrote)
1927 Gunter Grass Germany, novelist/poet (The Tin Drum)
1927 Lee Montague London England, actor (Uncle Sasha-Holocaust)
1931 Charles W Colson presidential adviser, Watergate figure
1937 Tony Anthony Clarksburg WV, actor (Treasure of 4 Crowns)
1940 Dave DeBusschere Detroit, NBA foward (NY Knick)/last ABA commissioner
1941 Tim McCarver baseball catcher (NY Mets)/sportscaster (ABC, CBS)
1944 Johnny Washbrook Toronto, actor (Ken-My Friend Flicka)
1946 Suzanne Somers San Bruno Calif, actress (3's Company, Step by Step)
1947 Bob Weir guitarist (Grateful Dead-Uncle John's Band)
1958 Tim Robbins actor/Moral Midget (Bull Durham, Cadillac Man)
1959 Gary Kemp rocker (Spandau Ballet-True)
1962 Manute Bol NBA center (Golden State Warriors)
1969 Wendy Wilson singer (Wilson-Philips-Hold On)
1978 Abel Talamantez Texas, singer (Menudo-Cannonball)
BELL, JAMES FRANKLIN
Name: James Franklin Bell
Rank/Branch: United States Navy/O4
Unit: RVAH 1
Date of Birth: 29 April 1931
Home City of Record: Cumberland MD
Date of Loss: 16 October 1965
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 211700 North 1074200 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: RA5C
Missions: 35
Other Personnel in Incident: Capt. James Hutton, returnee
Refno: 0166
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews.
REMARKS: 730212 RELEASED BY DRV
SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977
Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor
P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602
Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and
spelling errors).
JAMES F. BELL JR .
Commander - United States Navy, pilot
Shot Down: October 16, 1965
Released: February 12, 1973
I was born in Akron, Ohio in 1931 where my father was employed by Goodyear.
During subsequent years we lived in several towns in New York State back to
Akron for a spell and then to Cumberland Maryland where I graduated from high
school in 1948. My parents still reside in Cumberland. My father retired from
Goodyear in 1966 with over 10 years of service in that fine company.
After two years of "prepping" at the University of Utah I entered the United
States Naval Academy from where I graduated in 1954. I went immediately to
flight training and won my wings of gold in November 1955. My next four years
were spent in two F-4D Skyray squadrons in San Diego California and in 1959
it was back to school again at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey
California. Three years later I emerged with an MS in Aeronautical
Engineering and proceeded to Sanford Florida with orders to VAH-1 flying the
A3J-1 Vigilante.
I found myself still in the same squadron three years later. The squadron was
now designated RVAH-1 flying a reconnaissance version of the Vigilante
designated the RA5C aboard the USS Independence in the Gulf of Tonkin. On 16
October 1965 my luck ran out and I fell victim to AAA fire on a low level
reconnaissance mission north of Haiphong. I made it to the sea before ejecting
but after 30 minutes in the water my crewman Lt. Cmdr. Duffy Hutton and I were
picked up by local fishermen in sampans. I was tied to the mast of the sampan
and as I recalled the movie I had watched in the wardroom the night before was
"Two Years Before the Mast" with Dana Andrews I broke into a laugh. It was my
last laugh for a long, long time.
During the subsequent 89 months of detention in North Vietnam I never doubted
for a minute that the day would come when I would return to the land of the
free. Nor did I ever lose faith in myself and my abilities to withstand the
physical and mental rigors of prison life. Now that the ordeal is over and I
am reunited with my family and my three fine children and I look back at the
long association with so many outstanding fighting men and the wonderful
homecoming afforded me by me countrymen I can only say "Thank God I am an
American."
November 1996
James Bell retired from the United States Navy as a Captain. He and his wife
Dora reside in Virginia.
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1962 Cuban missile crisis began as JFK becomes aware of missiles in Cuba
