THE WALL OF FACES

CAPT Robert E. Conley Jr. and 1LT Steven R. Major were Naval flight officers serving with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115, Marine Aircraft Group 13, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Amphibious Force. On the evening of September 21, 1968, Conley was the pilot and Major the Radar Intercept Officer in a McDonnell Douglas F-4B (#150459) conducting close air support for troops in contact along the straight strip of highway known as the "Street of No Joy" and encompassed the Alpha Uniform (AU) peninsula between Danang and Phu Bai going north along the coast. The small village of Ðông An, coordinates 16.303202 / 108.012580 was near the coast and had tunnel routes to hidden entrances where supply boats can every night from the north to provide arms and ammunition to Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. This whole area had many villages with connecting tunnel networks that fed from the coast line to the interior of Viet Nam. The resident Marine Battalion at that time was the 3rd Battalion / 26th Marine Regiment (newly commanded by JWP Robertson) that had just been relocated to rebuild from the Khe Sanh Combat Base as the 5th Marines moved further south of Danang. Mike Company 3/26 commanded by Capt Harry Jenkins (years later Amphibious Force Commander during Desert Storm) became responsible for the specific area along the road north from the Hi Van Pass to Hue. The village in question was moving weapons and a strike was scheduled with VMFA-115 responding off the Chu Lai Hot Pad. During the mission, their jet was hit by hostile ground fire and crashed. The Phantom exploded on impact; both aviators were killed. The pilot struggled to save the jet after it apparently was hit and caused control problems which then resulted in a ground impact and both crew were killed during their ejection attempt as Major (rear-seat would go 1st) did not get chute and Conely's seat hit with the impact. The Marines conducted a sweep of the whole area while the remains of the lost airmen were recovered and sent to the Danang morgue. Despite the presence of a significant number of booby traps, the recovery mission was successfully accomplished. The wreckage was total but in Dec 1968, a separate Marine unit operating in the area reported the wreckage of the F-4 and destroyed un-detonated bombs and reported the location to the Division HQ. Re-confirming that it was Conley's and Major’s aircraft.

Thank you for your service, you will be remembered for what you did for our country.

CAPT Robert E. Conley Jr. and 1LT Steven R. Major were Naval flight officers serving with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115, Marine Aircraft Group 13, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Amphibious Force. On the evening of September 21, 1968, Conley was the pilot and Major the Radar Intercept Officer in a McDonnell Douglas F-4B (#150459) conducting close air support for troops in contact four kilometers (2.4 miles) southwest of Cape Chon, north of National Route QL-1 in Thua Thien Province, RVN. During the mission, their jet was hit by hostile ground fire and crashed. The Phantom exploded on impact; both aviators were killed. The following day, an investigation team was inserted into the area with security provided by elements of Company I, Company L, Company M, and Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. The Marines conducted a sweep of the surrounding area while the remains of the lost airmen were recovered. Despite the presence of a significant number of booby traps, the recovery mission was successfully accomplished. Three months later, on December 27, 1968, a separate Marine unit operating in the area came upon the wreckage of the F-4 and reported its findings to Regimental Marine headquarters. It was later confirmed to be Conley and Major’s aircraft. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org]

Captain Robert Frank Conley, Served with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 (VMFA-115), Marine Aircraft Group 13 (MAG-13), 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (1st MAW), Third Marine Amphibious Force.

Never forgotten.

Semper Fi, Marine