This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Frosio, Robert Clarence, CDR.
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.
Bob Frosio was my Godfather. I don't know too many details about him but I shall relate what I know. Bob's father had been one of the early Naval Aviators. Bob and my father were also Naval aviators during WW2 and probably met each other at Pensacola, Florida at least by 1944 when I was born and Baptised.
Because of the periodic change in duty stations in Naval careers, we moved on and I did not meet Bob again until about 1956 when he visited our home in Norfolk, Virginia. He impressed me as being an energetic, friendly person and he gave me a set of prints of navy airplanes. After that I never saw him again.
I learned about his death probably from my father. He said that Bob was the Commanding Officer of an A-4 squadron and that after a strike on Hanoi one of his pilots was returning to the carrier with an aircraft that had been damaged in the attack. The damage had disabled the aircraft's electrical system and the plane had no lights - and probably no radio etc. Bob turned back to help the pilot return to the ship but they somehow collided and crashed into the sea.
In the 90's I met a niece of his near San Diego where his parents had retired.
Carl Rosengrant
Posted by: Carl Rosengrant
Email: roseng@spawar.navy.mil
Relationship: Godson
Saturday, January 29, 2000
This Sailor has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in: Barrancas National Cemetery, Florida (VA).
Other Comments:
Name of Award
Distinguished Flying Cross
Year Awarded
1966
Details behind Award:
Awarded posthumously for actions during the Vietnam War
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Commander Robert Clarence Frosio (NSN: 0-532815), United States Navy, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) for heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight on 21 August 1966, as flight leader of an eight-plane flight of A-4E aircraft against the Thanh Hoa Railway Station in North Vietnam.
General Orders: All Hands (September 1967)
Action Date: August 21, 1966
Service: Navy
Rank: Commander
Name of Award
Distinguished Flying Cross
Year Awarded
1966
Details behind Award:
Awarded posthumously for actions during the Vietnam War
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Commander Robert Clarence Frosio (NSN: 0-532815), United States Navy, was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) for sustained heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight from 10 August to 12 November 1966, in leading daily strikes against heavily defended targets in North Vietnam.
General Orders: All Hands (September 1967)
Action Date: August 10 - November 12, 1966
Service: Navy
Rank: Commander
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.
