01 Apr 2008 I am from your home town, Bergenfield NJ, and know of your sacrifice because we lived on the street named after you... Campeau Place. Only now did I find out how you gave your life for your country, by watching a documentary of the FORRESTAL, where you served and perished. Your sacrifice has been with me since I was a boy and has often reminded me how lucky I am to live in the United States, defended by heroes such as yourself. Godspeed, Francis. Scott Koenig Sanford, Florida vietnam_memorial@koenigs.net

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall USS FORRESTAL arrived on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin on 25 July 1967 and immediately began combat operations. The first four days were routine; the fifth day, 29 July, was not. At 10:52 AM a 5-inch Zuni rocket accidentally fired across the crowded flight deck, impacting an armed A-4 Skyhawk. The resulting explosions and fires raged for 13 hours and more, killing 135 crewmen with hundreds more injured. Some of Fighter Squadron 11's berthing spaces were located immediately below the area of the flight deck first involved, and many off-duty men from VF-11 died in those compartments. The squadron lost a total of 48 men. Petty Officer Third Class Campeau was buried in Long Island National Cemetery, New York. More information and a list of the dead are on The Virtual Wall's USS FORRESTAL Memorial - - The Virtual Wall, June 7, 2014

Contact Us

© Copyright 1997-2019 www.VirtualWall.org, Ltd ®(TM)

Last update 08/15/2019