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1990-05-30
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98 lines
DICKSON, EDWARD ANDREW
Name: Edward Andrew Dickson
Rank/Branch: O3/US Navy Reserves
Unit: Attack Squadron 155, USS CORAL SEA (CVA-43)
Date of Birth: 03 September 1937
Home City of Record: Wyoming PA
Date of Loss: 07 February 1965
Country of Loss: North Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 173200N 1063600E (XE707391)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4E
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 May 1990 with the assistance of
Task Force Omega from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published
sources, interviews.
REMARKS: EJECTED - NO PARA - SEAT -J
SYNOPSIS: By early January, 1965, following two significant military defeats at
the hands of North Vietnamese guerrilla forces, the Army of the Republic of
South Vietnam was near collapse; U.S. options were either to leave the country
or increase its military activity. President Johnson chose to escalate. Plans
were authorized for a "limited war" that included a bombing campaign in North
Vietnam.
The first major air strike over North Vietnam took place in reaction to Viet
Cong mortaring of an American advisor's compound at Pleiku on February 7, 1965.
Eight Americans died in the attack, more than one hundred were wounded, and ten
aircraft were destroyed. President Johnson immediately launched FLAMING DART I,
a strike against the Vit Thu Lu staging area, fifteen miles inland and five
miles north of the demilitarized zone (DMZ).
Thirty-four aircraft launched from the USS RANGER, but were prevented from
carrying out that attack by poor weather, and the RANGER aircraft were not
allowed to join the forty-nine planes from the USS CORAL SEA and USS HANCOCK,
which struck the North Vietnamese army barracks and port facilities at Dong Hoi.
LT Edward A. Dickson was an A4E Skyhawk pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 155
onboard the CORAL SEA. Dickson was a section leader in a four-plane flight on
the strike at Dong Hoi. About 5 miles south of the target area, LT Dickson
reported that his aircraft had been hit by ground fire. His wingman was
instructed to look his aircraft over for damage as they continued to approach
the final run-in to the target.
Just prior to reaching the bomb release point, LT Dickson's left wing burst into
flames and the wingman notified of that fact. At this time the flight leader
gave the signal to drop the bombs. Dickson continued in his bomb run, turning
out to sea only after his last bomb had left the aircraft. Upon completing the
bombing run, the flight made an immediate turn to head for the sea, and for
easier rescue. As the flight continued to the coastline it was noted that the
left wing of Dickson's aircraft was completely engulfed in flames. He was
instructed to eject, and upon ejection, the canopy and ejection seat were
observed to leave the plane.
Partly because the aircraft were traveling at a high rate of speed, no one was
sure Dickson himself left the aircraft, nor was a parachute seen deployed. The
crippled A4 crashed into the Gulf of Tonkin approximately one-half mile off
shore. Search and rescue facilities were alerted and accompanying aircraft
circled in the vicinity of the crash site for roughly 15 minutes without being
able to locate their downed comrade. Weather conditions in the target area were
overcast with multiple stratus cloud layers. The search was terminated two days
later with no results.
LT Dickson, because he was lost over water, was classified Killed in Action,
Body Not Recovered. His name is listed among the missing because no remains were
ever found to return home.
The strike was judged at best an inadequate reprisal. It accounted for sixteen
destroyed buildings. The cost? The loss of one A4E Skyhawk pilot from the USS
CORAL SEA and eight damaged aircraft.
LT Dickson's loss was indeed ironic, or possibly just symbolic of the deadly
business of naval aviation. One year earlier, Dickson had narrowly evaded death
after ejecting from an A4 during a training exercise over the Sierra Nevada
range in California. His parachute failed to open, but Dickson landed in a
thirty-foot snowdrift and survived.
Edward A. Dickson is one of nearly 2500 Americans still missing from the Vietnam
war. Some certainly died. However, it is not totally clear that Lt. Dickson
actually died when his aircraft went down, or in a faulty ejection, or if he
survived to make it to shore or be picked up by boats in the area. Like many
cases of those missing, Lt. Dickson's case is unclear.
Tragically, since the end of the war, thousands of reports have been received
by the U.S. Government that have convinced many authorities that hundreds of
Americans are still alive, held captive in Southeast Asia. Most of these
reports remain classified, so no public judgement can be made as to their worth.
Speculation continues that Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia, waiting
for their country to free them. It is not beyond comprehension that Edward A.
Dickson could be one of them. If so, what must he think of us?