THE WALL OF FACES

A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam
And for a brief moment its glory
and beauty belong to our world
But then it flies again
And though we wish it could have stayed...
We feel lucky to have seen it.

Dear AA Robert Yankoski, Thank you for your service as an Airman Apprentice on the USS MIDWAY. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Lent has begun. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance, and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Never forgotten.

Semper Fortis

On the remembrance of your 69th birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

Semper Fortis

On October 24, 1972, the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CVA-41) was conducting flight operations in the Gulf of Tonkin. At 7:50 PM, a U.S. Navy Grumman A-6A Intruder from Attack Squadron 115 (VA-115) was returning to the Midway following a single-plane “seeding mission” in North Vietnam. As the Intruder landed aboard the carrier, a landing gear failure caused the aircraft to swerve sharply right into Navy personnel and other aircraft parked on the bow flight deck. The wayward aircraft came to a rest among the parked airplanes and burst into flames. There were mass casualties as a result of the crash. Fatally injured in the incident were AO2 Clayton M. Blankenship, AMSAN Daniel P. Cherry, AN Robert W. Haakenson Jr., and AA Robert A. Yankoski. LTJG Michael S. Bixel, the bombardier/navigator aboard the Intruder, either ejected himself or his seat fired during the crash landing, sending him over the side of the ship. An immediate air and surface search was started with three vessels and one helicopter to recover LTJG Bixel. No distress signals were heard, nor was he sighted at any time during the search. It was believed that Bixel did not pull free from his ejection seat and went down with the seat since no survival equipment (flotation gear, strobe light, pyrotechnic flares, or signal pistol) were detected. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org]