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.

Dear PO1C Arthur Simmons, Thank you for your service as an Aviation Machinist's Mate - Reciprocating Engine Mechanic 1st Class. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Happy Valentine’s Day and Presidents' Day. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

I honor your memory and thank you for your service to are country. Sorry you did not make it back home.

Thank you Petty Officer First Class Simmons for your leadership and courage.

On March 16, 1970, a U.S. Navy EC-121K Warning Star (#145927) spy plane from Fleet Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) with 31 crewmen aboard suffered a mechanical failure during a landing approach at a Da Nang airbase at the end of a ferry flight from Taiwan. One of the airplane's four engines had been shut down enroute due to a generator overheat problem. Furthermore, the first one thousand feet of Da Nang's runway was closed for repairs. The combination of the two factors dictated an out-of-the-ordinary approach. At 11:25 as the Warning Star was on short final, another aircraft taxied onto the active runway, forcing the EC-121 to attempt an aborted landing. The pilot banked while flying over a concrete revetment and caught the tip of the left wing on a shelter. The EC-121 immediately cartwheeled, striking another revetment containing an RF-4C and exploded. The remaining eight crewmen and two U.S. Air Force personnel on the ground were injured. The aircraft crashed 300 yards east of the runway near a busy road leading to a large American mess hall. The aircraft broke into three pieces: the cockpit and fuselage forward of the wing slid into revetment wall and burned; the center section crashed upside down into a street and burned; and the tail section landed on a softball field, ripping into a backstop (the field was deserted). One of these flying sections hit a tar truck, knocking it into two power poles. The poles were severed and live power lines were strewn over the area. Only the white tail section and part of the fuselage were distinguishable amid the scattered wreckage. The RF-4C inside the hanger was also destroyed. One man from the tail section walked away unscathed, meanwhile the four other survivors from the center section were gravely injured. Although ground personnel made heroic efforts to rescue the men aboard the EC-121, braving gasoline and jet fuel fires and the risk of electrocution, 23 men were either dead or fatally injured including pilot LCDR Harvey C. K. Aiau, LCDR Harry C. Martin, navigator LT James M. Masters Jr., co-pilot LT George L. Morningstar, co-pilot LT Robin A. Pearce, co-pilot LTJG Charles E. Pressler, navigator LTJG Jean P. Souzon, ADRC William J. Risse, AT1 Larry O. Marchbank, ATR1 Arthur D. Simmons, ATR1 Donald W. Wilson, AE2 Floyd E. Andrus III, ADR2 Stuart J. Scruggs Jr., AMS2 William P. Bletsch, ATN2 John M. Birch, ATN2 Guy T. Denton, ATN2 John S. Schaefer, ATN2 Barry M. Searby, ATR2 Joseph S. Saukaitis, ADR3 Gregory J. Asbeck, ATN3 Thurle E. Case Jr., ATN3 Ben A. Hughes Jr., and ATN3 Ralph S. Purdum. [Taken from vspa.com, aviation-safety.net, and virtualwall.org]