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Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
McGhee, Billy Walker, AX1.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Rockwood, TN
Casualty Date Feb 06, 1968
Cause MIA-Finding of Death
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location South China Sea
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Oak Grove Cemetery - Rockwood, Tennessee
On the morning of 05 Feb 1968, a P-3B aircraft (BuNo 153440) of Patrol Squadron 26 departed U-Tapao Air Base in Thailand for a 24-hour "Market Time" patrol over the Gulf of Thailand and the southern Vietnamese coastline. The aircraft was manned by VP-26's Crew Eight, normally based at NAS Brunswick, Maine, but on TDY to Southeast Asia. Shortly after midnight on the night of 5/6 Feb 68 the crew reported the first of a number of small surface contacts. Nothing was heard from Crew Eight after a final radio contact at 0300 06 Feb, and SAR efforts were begun after daybreak. Floating wreckage was located in the Gulf of Thailand about 65 miles southwest of Rach Gia, SVN. Salvage efforts began on 11 Feb and located the aircraft wreckage in about 100 feet of water, but divers were able to recover the bodies of only two of the twelve men aboard:
