This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Gaylon Hemphill, DP3
to remember
Cassell, Robin Bern, LTJG.
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Ventura, CA
Last Address Ft Huachuca,AZ
MIA Date Jul 15, 1967
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Tonkin Gulf
Conflict Vietnam War
Memorial Coordinates 23E 074
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Lieutenant Junior Grade Robin B. Cassell was a Navy pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 152 onboard the aircraft carrier USS ORISKANY. On July 15, 1967 he launched in his A1H Skyraider aircraft as the flight leader of a section of A1H's on a daytime armed coastal reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam.
During the mission, Cassell's aircraft was seen to be hit by automatic weapons fire during an attack on water craft near Cua Dai, North Vietnam. (This is in the approximate region of the city of Thanh Hoa.) Cassell radioed, "I'm hit" and shortly thereafter crashed into the sea and exploded on impact. No parachute was seen, and search and rescue efforts turned up negative results.
This Sailor has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in: Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, California (VA):
Yankee Station, North Vietnam
From Month/Year
January / 1964
To Month/Year
June / 1973
Description Yankee Station was a point in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam used by the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers of Task Force 77 to launch strikes in the Vietnam War. While its official designation was "Point Yankee," it was universally referred to as Yankee Station. Carriers conducting air operations at Yankee Station were said to be "on the line" and statistical summaries were based on days on the line. The name derived from it being the geographic reference point "Y", pronounced "Yankee" in the NATO phonetic alphabet. In turn the term Point Yankee derived from the launch point for "Yankee Team" aerial reconnaissance missions over Laos conducted in 1964. It was located about 190 km due east of Dong Hoi, at 17° 30' N and 108° 30' E.
During the two periods of sustained air operations against North Vietnam (March 2, 1965-October 31, 1968 and March 30, 1972-December 29, 1972) there were normally three carriers on the line, each conducting air operations for twelve hours, then off for twelve hours. One of the carriers would operate from noon to midnight, another from midnight to noon, and one during daylight hours, which gave 24-hour coverage plus additional effort during daylight hours, when sorties were most effective. However at the end of May, 1972, six carriers were for a short period of time on the line at Yankee Station conducting Linebacker strikes.
The first aircraft carrier at Yankee Station was USS Kitty Hawk, which was ordered there in April 1964 for the Yankee Team missions. Kitty Hawk was joined by Ticonderoga in May and Constellation in June, two months prior to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Ticonderoga and Constellation launched the first bombing missions from Yankee Station on August 5, 1964. Constellation was also the last carrier conducting operations at Yankee Station on August 15, 1973. USS Forrestal suffered a major accident while at Yankee Station when a series of fires and explosions on her deck killed 134 men and injured another 161.
A corresponding Dixie Station in the South China Sea off the Mekong Delta was a single carrier point for conducting strikes within South Vietnam from May 15, 1965 to August 3, 1966.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1964
To Month/Year
December / 1967
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Category: 5 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A1H Refno: 0765 Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 30 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. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.
REMARKS: SYNOPSIS: The USS ORISKANY was a World War II-era carrier on duty in Vietnam as early as 1964. The ORISKANY at one time carried the RF8A (number 144608) flown by Maj. John H. Glenn, the famous Marine astronaut (and later Senator) flew in his 1957 transcontinental flight. In October, 1966 the ORISKANY endured a tragic fire which killed 44 men onboard, but was soon back on station. In 1972, the ORISKANY had an at-sea accident which resulted in the loss of one of its aircraft elevators, and later lost a screw that put the carrier into drydock in Yokosuka, Japan for major repairs, thus delaying its involvement until the late months of the war.
Lieutenant Junior Grade Robin B. Cassell was a Navy pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 152 onboard the aircraft carrier USS ORISKANY. On July 15, 1967 he launched in his A1H Skyraider aircraft as the flight leader of a section of A1H's on a daytime armed coastal reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam.
During the mission, Cassell's aircraft was seen to be hit by automatic weapons fire during an attack on water craft near Cua Dai, North Vietnam. (This is in the approximate region of the city of Thanh Hoa.) Cassell radioed, "I'm hit" and shortly thereafter crashed into the sea and exploded on impact. No parachute was seen, and search and rescue efforts turned up negative results.
LTJG Robin B. Cassell was listed Killed in Action, Body Not Recovered. He is listed with honor among the missing because his remains were never found to be returned home.
Over 3000 Americans remained prisoner, missing, or otherwise unaccounted for at the end of the Vietnam war. The numbers have been reduced since that time with the release of prisoners, and the return of remain until it has reached just over 2300 in early 1990.
Since the war ended nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing, prisoner, or otherwise unaccounted for in Indochina have been received by the U.S. Government. Many officials, having examined this largely classified information, have reluctantly concluded that many Americans are still alive today, held captive by our long-ago enemy.
Mounting evidence indicates that some Americans are still alive being held prisoner of war in Southeast Asia. In the peace accords signed in 1973, the Vietnamese pledged to return all prisoners of war and provide the fullest possible accounting of the missing. They have not done either.
The United States government pledged that the POW/MIA issue is of "highest national priority" but has not achieved results indicative of a priority. The Americans who remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia deserve our best efforts to bring them home, not our empty words.
Robin B. Cassell graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1964.
