This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Schoeppner, Leonard John (Chops), LT.
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This Sailor has an (IMO) Memory Of Headstone in Courts of the Missing, Honolulu, Hawaii
LT Leonard J. Schoeppner and LTJG Rex L. Parcels Jr. were F4 pilots assigned to Fighter Squadron 21 onboard the USS RANGER. On March 9, 1970, the two were assigned a photo reconnaissance escort mission in their F4J Phantom. Schoeppner was the pilot and Parcels served as the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) on the flight.
Schoeppner and Parcels launched at 1200 hours on that day. Their climbout and aerial refueling were normal. Because of low ceilings and poor visibility in the reconnaissance aircraft's target area, the escort mission was cancelled. Schoeppner's aircraft was diverted to their secondary mission assignment as combat air patrol for the Task Force. The reassignment occurred about one hour after their takeoff.
Schoeppner reported his position as overhead the RANGER in the Gulf of Tonkin at 17,000 feet. He was instructed to rendezvous with another squadron F4, but he failed to contact the newly assigned control agency for the required vector. Contact between Schoeppner's and Parcels' aircraft and the ship's search radar was also lost at about this time (1330).
A preliminary search was conducted, using aircraft already airborne in the vicinity of the carrier. With no success on this preliminary search, the assistance of other assets was utilized (seven destroyers, seven helicopters, four A7's, three OV10's, two HC130's, two E1's, one E2, one C1A, one C131, and one P3). A thorough and detailed coverage of this large area was attested to by a variety of non-pertinent floating debris recovered by the SAR force, including objects as small as an old life jacket.
A pilot from the HANCOCK reported that he had seen an F4-type aircraft in a dive at approximately 4,000 feet. All other F4 pilots airborne at this time stated that they had not engaged in such a maneuver. The diving aircraft was thought to possibly be that of Schoeppner and Parcels. With weather conditions as they were, they may have inadvertently entered a maneuver, such as a dive, which carried them to an altitude too low to effect a recovery after their condition was realized.
POSTED ON 2/11/99 - BY TOM HERSKOWITZ TKHERSK@IBM.NET
I served with Leonard "Chop's" Schoeppner in VF-21 on board the USS Ranger. Chops was a pilot and also a qualified LSO. Lt. Dean Capper, also in VF-21 and my pilot, was one of Chop's best friends.
Chops was not married.
He was one of the funniest guys in the squadron. During the movie each night, Chops had a center front row seat and always wore a Donald Duck cap that had a "honking" bill. He was always honking the cap when he saw something funny. He would also put his hand up and let the shadow of his hand pat the bottom of any pretty lady that walked across the screen.
Chops was lost at sea on a clear day after returning from a combat mission over Loas. He and Rex Parcels, checked in with the ship and were drilling holes in the sky waiting for their "charlie time." They never checked in again. It was thought that they took a couple of turns with another plane, an A-7 or A-4, from a sister carrier, the Connstellation I think, and got disoriented in a nose down dive and crashed in the China Sea. Their bodies were never recovered nor was any wreckage found.
Chops was a good man. He is missed by his comrades and friends.
God Bless you Chops.
Tom Herskowitz San Diego 2/10/99
Jack Schoeppner was my friend. We served in VF-21 together from mid-1968 until he was lost on March 9, 1970. Everyone knew him as "Chops". He was the kind of guy whose personality stood out in a crowd and I don't think there was another pilot in the air wing who didn't know who he was. I first saw him, probably in September 1967, at Chase Field in Beeville, Texas. He was in Advanced Jet training. He didn't know me then but I remembered him.
The day he was lost I was also airborne and remember doing a radar search to see if I could spot his plane. As we would find out later, he and his RIO Rex Parcels were gone by then.
In the summer of 1969 Chops and I took a backpacking trip together in the High Sierra of California. We covered about 49 miles around the Rae Lakes Loop in Kings Canyon National Park. We did some fishing and had a great time. I remember the pictures he took on that trip. He was a pretty darn good photographer. That was my first and last time backpacking with Chops. Since then I have returned to the Sierra to climb and hike many times and often I remember that special time I had with Chops.
I miss you buddy. I will never forget.
From a friend and shipmate,
Don Christiansen
dgc_61@san.rr.com