THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will remain in our hearts forever….

The "Friends of Rocky Versace" remember one of Rocky's fellow Service Academy graduates (Maj. Moore - USNA; Rocky Versace - USMA), Major Thomas Dewey Moore Jr, U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1955, on what would've been his 93d birthday - 4 July 2022. Midshipman Moore selected the U.S. Air Force and received his commission as a 2nd Lt in that Service upon graduation from the Naval Academy.

On the remembrance of your 92nd birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

Dear Major Thomas Moore, Thank you for your service as a Tactical Aircraft Pilot. Your 53rd anniversary is in 4 days, sad. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Thanksgiving is today, happy Thanksgiving in heaven. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

On November 30, 1967, a U.S. Air Force C-7B (#62-4175) from the 458th Tactical Airlift Squadron (TAS), 483rd Tactical Airlift Wing (TAW) at Cam Ranh Air Base, hit a mountain about 5 miles south of Qui Nhon after a bad weather missed approach. On the initial approach to Qui Nhon, the pilot was advised that the weather at the airfield had fallen below safety minimal. He replied that he would to proceed to Nha Trang where the weather conditions were better. Enroute to Nha Trang the aircraft hit a mountain at 1,850 feet. The presence of low clouds and rain had reduced visibility to about two miles. It took search and rescue teams five days to locate the crash site in the dense jungle. Twenty-six people were killed in the crash. The four lost crewmen included MAJ Thomas D. Moore Jr., MAJ William J. Clark III, SSGT Arturo Delgado-Marin, and SSGT Stanley J. Yurewicz. Two Air Force passengers and 18 U.S. Army personnel, including two U.S. civilians, were also killed in the accident. Five of passengers were medical personnel. They had been temporarily assigned to a Pleiku hospital and were returning to Qui Nhon. They included CAPT Eleanor G. Alexander, 1LT Jerome E. Olmsted, 1LT Hedwig D. Orlowski, 1LT Kenneth R. Shoemaker, and SP5 Phillip A. Ogas. Other lost personnel included SSGT Edward O. Bilsie, SP4 Bobby G. Brown, A1C Daryl L. Davis, PFC William R. Godwin, SGT William E. Groves, SGT Whyley E. Josh, SFC Bobby D. Likens, 1LT Norman F. Loeffler Jr., SSGT Jose L. Miranda-Ortiz, SSGT Clarence L. Palmer, CPL Jack Rogers, SP4 Lawrence D. Snyder, SGT Teddy Waxman, PFC Libert J. Weldon Jr., and PFC Edward J. Williamson. [Taken from forest-lawn.com, coffeltdatabase.org, and findagrave.com]