This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Thomas C. Sharp (Chief), FTG3
to remember
McConnaughhay, Dan Daily, SF2.
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While the SH-3 helicopter was designed and equipped for anti-submarine warfare, it was commonly used for intership transportation among the 7th Fleet ships operating in the Gulf of Tonkin and South China Sea areas. The USS NAVASOTA (AO-106) was a fleet oiler which replenished the warships with fuel oil, aviation gasoline, and jet fuel. During operations offshore Vietnam, three NAVASOTA crewmen were lost at sea when the SH-3A (BuNo 149926) they were aboard enroute it went down. As with most at-sea losses, their remains could not be recovered. They had been returning from a collision of 2 destroyers the USS Brinkley Bass and the USS Waddell.
This Sailor has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in:Fort Logan National Cemetery (VA), Denver, Colorado.
This letter was written to Ernest's cousin, Roxie Icephine McConnaughhay on January 9, 1972. "Dan Dailey McConnaughhay, born in 1942, at Fountain, Colorado, married Evelyn Quint in 1960. Their children are: Aleisha-born in 1961, Kim-born in 1965, and Dan Jr.-born in April, 1966, two months after his dad was lost at sea.
Dan was lost at sea during one of those south seas Monsoons on Feb. 6, 1966. Two destroyers had run together and one was taking a lot of water, and a call went out for help. They needed someone who knew how to weld under water, Dan had that experience and volunteered, eleven men made the trip of a mile or so in a helicopter.
The strom was so bad that the chopper had to hover and take the men in one at a time. They plugged up the hole and were returning when suddenly the chopper went out of control and plunged into the high waves then turned up-side down. All were rescued but three, Dan and two others.
I still pray that he might have been picked up by some Chinese junk or by a miracle, but I know that I will have to live in the right way in order to see him in heaven."
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.
