Free Republic

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Lt. Cmdr. Ralph C. Bisz, U.S. Navy, of Miami Shores, Fla. His funeral arrangements are being set by his family. On Aug. 4, 1967, Bisz took off in an A-4E Skyhawk from the USS Oriskany to bomb an enemy petroleum depot near Haiphong, Vietnam. As he neared the target, his aircraft was struck by an enemy surface-to-air missile...

The ex-Oriskany, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, was sunk 24 miles off the coast of Pensacola, Fla., on May 17 to form an artificial reef. The 888-foot ship took about 37 minutes to sink below the surface. U.S. Navy photos

Korean War-era ship to be sunk off coast of Florida. The USS Oriskany is scheduled to slip out of the Port of Corpus Christi at first light Monday, headed for Pensacola, Fla., where it will be sunk and made into an artificial reef. The Korean War-era aircraft carrier arrived in January at the port, where it was stripped of hazardous materials in preparation for its sinking. The ship had hundreds of compartments that were filled with oily substances, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and asbestos. The company that stripped the almost 900-foot long ship, Resolve Marine Services of Port Everglades, Fla., initially...

Navy chooses Pensacola over local site The Korean War-era aircraft carrier that is parked at Texas Docks & Rail will not be sunk off the shores of Corpus Christi, and instead will be sunk off the coast of Pensacola, Fla., Navy officials announced Monday. The fact that the ship is going to Florida also doesn't give Texas an advantage the next time the Navy decides where to sink the 24 other ships that are scheduled to be made into artificial reefs, said Pat Dolan, deputy director for congressional and Navy public affairs. "It will be a competitive process each time,"...