Shareware Supreme Volume 6 #1/swsii.zip/swsii/009/P356.ZIP/P356.TXT

Text File | 1990-04-14 | 4KB | 75 lines

PARKER, CHARLES LESLIE JR.

Name: Charles Leslie Parker, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O4/US Navy
Unit: Tactical Electronics Squadron 130, Detachment 4, USS RANGER (CVA 61)
Date of Birth: 11 March 1939
Home City of Record: San Diego CA
Loss Date: 21 January 1973
Country of Loss: North Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 183906N 1070959E
Status (in 1973): Died/Body Not Recovered
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: EKA3B

Other Personnel In Incident: Keith A. Christophersen; Richard D. Wiehr (missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: OVERBOARD CVA61 SEARCH NEG -J

SYNOPSIS: The USS RANGER was a seasoned combat veteran, having been deployed to
Vietnam for Flaming Dart I operations. The carrier played a steady role for the
remainder of American involvement in the war. The first fighter jets to bomb
Haiphong in Operation Rolling Thunder came from her decks.

On January 21, 1973, the USS RANGER was conducting flight operations in the Gulf
of Tonkin about 100 miles off the shore of North Vietnam (approximately east of
the city of Vinh). As it happened, this was the final week of the war.

One of the generally unheralded aircraft carried onboard the RANGER was the
tanker ship. The tanker was adapted from various aircraft with room to carry jet
fuel. This plane was the oasis for the fighter jets - the tanker which circled
in safe areas outside their combat areas to be available for refueling. The
presence of the tanker meant extra flight time for the jets and sometimes meant
their survival.

Flying from an aircraft carrier is a special science. The limited takeoff and
landing area leaves little room for error. Occasionally, tragic accidents occur,
claiming lives.

LtCDR Charles L. Parker was a pilot assigned to Tactical Electronic Squadron
130, Detachment 4, onboard the carrier USS RANGER. He was the pilot of an EKA3B
tanker.

At 11:46 p.m. on January 21, 1973, the EKA3B carrying Parker, the pilot; LTJG
Keith A. Christophersen, the copilot/navigator; and Petty Officer Second Class
Richard D. Wiehr, the electronic technician; was preparing to launch on a night
catapult launch. After having made a normal catapult attachment and pre-launch
inspection, the catapult stroke appeared to start off normally. After about 1/3
of the launch stroke, a loud explosion was heard and the aircraft was seen to
pitch nose down and sparks started to come from the right engine. The aircraft
began to decelerate and run off the end of the angle deck at a very low speed
and fell over the side of the ship into the Gulf of Tonkin.

An immediate search and rescue effort was begun, but the aircraft sank very
quickly and none of the crew could be recovered. The three Americans were
classified Killed/Body Not Recovered.

The crew of the EKA3B lost on January 21, 1973 are listed with honor among the
nearly 2300 still prisoner, missing or otherwise unaccounted for from the
Vietnam war because their bodied were never found. Some of the missing, like the
crew of the EKA3B, may never be recovered. It may not be possible to find their
bodies. A high percentage of those missing, however, could be found.

Tragically, thousands of reports have been received that indicate Americans are
still being held captive in Southeast Asia. While the EKA3 crew may not be among
them, the evidence suggests that hundreds of their comrades are alive, waiting
for their country to free them. One can imagine that Parker, Christophersen and
Wiehr would be there if they could, circling and waiting to help them to
freedom.